ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-ZIMBABWE: Bridging Differences

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Hilary K Siyachitema

HARARE, May 21 2002 (IPS) - William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is being used as a way of improving race relations in Zimbabwe.

Relations between Zimbabwe’s white minority, who make up less than two percent of the country’s 13 million people, and government, have hit rock bottom since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms to resettle black families two years ago.

“Britain and Zimbabwe can work amicably and art can be a way to bridge gaps because for the artists there is no colonialism or politics,” says Jane Campbell, the British Council representative in Harare.

“Sometimes politics needs a bridge and theatre can be that bridge, a platform that will give us the opportunity to transcend divides and make honest steps towards the very slow process of reconciliation,” says Caroline Clegg, director of Feelgood Theatre.

She says if 24 young people – blacks and whites – involved in the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ production, can risk so much to work together “…surely we can listen to them and learn”.

The 24 artists, who belong to three theatre companies, will perform at the ‘Spirit of Friendship Festival’ in the British city of Manchester on May 25.

The groups — Feelgood Theatre company of Manchester, England, Siyaya Arts Productions and Over the Edge, both of Zimbabwe — will perform ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

The Commonwealth is an organisation of 54 independent states, which were formerly parts of the British Empire, established to encourage trade and friendly relations among its members.

Zimbabwe, a former British colony, was suspended from the group in March for a year.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ premiered at Stanley Hall in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, on May 7 and also showed in the capital Harare, on May 11.

It begins with an extract from Pablo Casel’s poem ‘Reflections’: “You have the capacity for anything. Yes you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must cherish one another”.

The play, by the British author Shakespeare, is about two lovers who try to cross the line of hate that divides them. Romeo is forced to approach Juliet in secret because of the rivalry that exists between his family, the Montagues — and Juliet’s, the Capulets.

Despite the intensity of their family’s mutual despise, the young lovers strive to marry. However, fate intervenes to keep them apart, and, when the Montagues and Capulets discover the foolishness of their ways, it is too late for Romeo and Juliet.

The play is partly sponsored by the British Council, which is paying the airfares for all 24 artists attending the ‘Spirit of Friendship Festival’ in Manchester. Manchester Airport and Agna North West Arts Board are also helping with the costs.

Founded in 1994, ‘Feelgood’ seeks to involve adults and children of all ages in theatre. ‘Siyaya Arts’, founded in 1989, has 15 members based in Bulawayo. Over the Edge was founded in Harare in 1994. Their latest theatre productions include ‘Born African’.

The ‘Romeo and Juliet’ project, which has been adopted to suit local conditions in Zimbabwe, combines Shakespeare’s work, acapella harmony (song without instruments), drumming as well as African and contemporary dance.

Clegg hopes to forge a network of artists with a training and development agenda.