Theatre training and performance practice in neoliberal Zimbabwean universities: survival strategies and frustrations

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I document and discuss the frustrations and survival strategies of Theatre Arts and/ or Performing Arts departments in STEMatised neoliberal Zimbabwean universities. I submit that while these departments devised creative survival strategies which kept them relevant and competitive for some time, they also relegated them to the academic periphery, with no student uptake. Through case studying the University of Zimbabwe’s Theatre Arts Department and Great Zimbabwe University’s Performing Arts Department, I argue that this neoliberal transformation of Zimbabwean universities put pressure on theatre training, performance practice, and practitioners to adapt to ‘scientific’ methodologies so as to access funding and recognition.

KEYWORDS:

• Neoliberalism
• STEMatised
• theatre
• performing arts

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Nkululeko Sibanda holds a B.A. (Hons) Theatre Arts (University of Zimbabwe); Master of Arts (Drama and Performance Studies) and a Ph.D. (Drama and Performance Studies) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard College). He is a practising scenographer in South Africa and Zimbabwe, having worked with esteemed companies such as Theory X Media (Harare), Intuba Arts Development (Durban), Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA) and Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo. The need to develop a formidable, relevant and effective scenographic theory and practice model within Zimbabwean theatre practice (from an African paradigm) sits at the base of his research endeavours. His research interests include African Theatre, alternative scenography, alternative performance and identity and performance and memory.

ORCID

Nkululeko Sibanda http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2950-7767

Notes

1. While in other countries university and college education is referred to as ‘tertiary’ education, in Zimbabwe it is known as ‘Higher and Tertiary’ education. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development administratively oversees all vocational colleges, technical colleges, teacher training colleges and universities in Zimbabwe. These institutions attend to the technical training and academic needs of qualifying secondary and high school graduates.

2. Advanced Level is inclusive of Lower and Upper Sixth forms. Upper Sixth form external exams are moderated by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council and are graded using the point-form scale ranging from A to F. A is equals 5points; B equals 4 points; C equals 3 points; D equals 2 points; E is worth 1 point while F is fail.

3. With regards to Theatre Arts, prospective students needed to have Literature in English and Ndebele/ Shona at Advanced Level.

4. The film and theatre industries have always been operated at the semi-professional level and have never evolved into a fully-fledged industry full-time workers. Due to this, theatre artists had to take day jobs to survive and practice theatre and produce films at their spare time. Graduates therefore never got opportunities of full-time time employment, thus they took up teaching as an alternative that allowed them to continue practising theatre, albeit semi-professionally. Based on this observation, Theatre Departments were doomed to fail because they continued to produce multitudes of graduates without a well-developed industry to absorb them.

5. This religious-cultural agency was a result of the informal indigenous education system in pre-colonial Zimbabwe which integrated culture and religion into life-skills training. This indigenous education systems therefore provided the glue that strengthened the people’s social fabric which the colonial system sought to dismantle.

6. Normally, the B.A General class that took up Theatre Arts courses at Level1 and 2 ranged from 35 to 45 students. These students, upon graduation, would have taken up to 12 Theatre Arts courses out of the expected 20 courses needed to qualify for the awarding of the degree. These numbers significantly went down at Level 3 as students opted for subjects that they could teach at secondary level. The 12 Theatre Arts courses included 6 practical courses (Introduction to African Dance and Dance Forms; Playmaking; Uses of Theatre; Theatre for Development; Dance Composition/ Theories of Acting; Dance Design/ Applied Acting; Directing Workshops and Directing). However, I consider these courses not adequate to produce a competent and skilled graduate that can make a telling impact in the Zimbabwean theatre industry.

7. The Nziramasanga Commission (1999) was a commission of Inquiry into Education Systems of Zimbabwe, commissioned by the former President Robert Mugabe. Its key findings highlighted a discrepancy between theoretical emphasis of Higher education and the practical requirements of the industry in post-independence Zimbabwe. It also highlighted lack of infrastructure, training and equipment as well as the need to balance professional, academic, practical and technical training in higher and tertiary institutions.

8. The amount paid by Universities to ZIMCHE could not be ascertained at the time of writing this paper. It seemed the amount was safely guarded and only communicated to university management only by ZIMCHE.