PAMUSHANA High School drama club recently scooped the Best Newcomer award at the recently held National One Act Festival in Harare after staging an enthralling drama.
BY IDAH MHETU
The festival took place at Reps Theatre last week with performances from different theatre establishments in the country.
Pamushana High School, from the ancient city of Masvingo, is the former Youth Cultural Festival (Yocaf) champions. The institution made history this year by becoming the first school to be nominated for the National Arts Merit Awards.
The school performed at the National One Act Festival for the first time and their electrifying performance dazzled the audience.
“This is a beautiful piece of art, very difficult technique to pull off, but the kids really showed their prowess, kudos to them,” said Anne Fischer, the adjudicator at the festival.
The drama club performed their latest piece, What are the Odds, which premiered at Yocaf 2015. The drama club is part of the YAK project being run by Yocaf management.
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Speaking on the latest development, Yocaf coordinator Precious Mudzingwa said: “We have decided to initiate this project to introduce the students to professional theatre so that by the time they finish school they are very good actors who can audition for any role in the industry.”
The original play is a two-hander that uses a “lost and found” concept. The characters meet on a park bench and engage in a conversation that leaves the audience in stitches.
The play was presented in a unique way, with four actors – Godknows Chiware and Lawayne Mzite (who played the part of Found) as well as Anesu Murimira and Farirai Mugova (who played the part of Lost) – mirroring each other.
“It has always been my dream to perform at Reps Theatre and compete at this level, my acting is growing every time I go on stage and perform to different audiences,” said Chiware, who is also the head boy at Pamushana.
The group performed at this year’s edition of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa), and the opportunity gave the rural outfit an opportunity to grow in the arts industry. The project was supported by Hivos and the Norwegian Embassy.
