Most people in theatre these days attach little importance to what they do, what they mind about most is popularity. Because of this people have lost trust in theatre

If you have been to the theatre in the recent past, you must have realised the mess in Uganda's oldest form of entertainment. As soon as you enter some of our theatres today you are met by the empty staring seats, old curtains and flood lights (instead of stage lights).

Luckily however, most theatre practitioners admit to seeing the crisis, although some of them put the blame on the fast growing competition in the entertainment industry.

Charles Ssenkubuge says that in the late eighties and the early nineties, theatre was almost the only form of entertainment. "But with the coming of DSTV, cheap music festivals and TV soaps, theatre's audience has been cut almost half way." "You cannot put a new production when the turn up is poor, it is costly," he says.

But Ashraf Ssimwogerere dismisses such claims and says that competition could be one of the reasons, but theatre practitioners have fallen short of creativity.

The Ebonies' Julie Underwood and Sam Bagenda. With cinema, home theatres and the much publicised music concerts, theatre is no longer the sole form of entertainment. Photo by Willy Tamale

"People are tired of half baked work; they know what exactly they want. Most plays today don't have scripts. Someone simply comes up with a story idea and calls others to improvise. Another thing is that, most groups give less or no time to rehearse, a sure way for low quality plays."

He adds that in most cases someone can begin advertising a play before putting a single word is put on paper. Ssimwogerere is indeed right. There are many countries where the music industry is thriving, yet theatre is thriving as well. In fact, often times these theatres charge much more money than the music concerts.

Because people put up low quality plays, they do not earn enough, which is another problem. It increases the cost of production.

Small audiences

Ssenkubuge says, "We have few people coming to theatre these days and with such turn up you cannot expect someone to buy better costumes, make an attractive stage design and pay the actors."

Alex Mukulu believes that it is lack of commitment and consistence. "Most people in theatre these days attach little importance to what they do, what they mind about most is popularity. Because of this people have lost trust in theatre because there is no credibility, they would rather stay home and watch more entertaining things," he says.

He adds however, that, the National Theatre has contributed a lot to the crisis in theatre today. "Management at the National theatre is incompetent, instead of encouraging quality productions they have turned the theatre into a venue for wedding meetings, it is a pity."

During the late eighties and in the early and mid nineties no one could stage a production at the National theatre unless his script was examined and found worthy.

However these days one simply books the theatre and what they are going to stage remains their concern. The theatre management most of the time is busy with wedding meetings.

In addition to the rather old and lengthy plays, Ssimwogerere says that the audience is tired of the same old faces on stage. "If people are tired of Museveni whom they don't see all the time, then what about us they see almost every day? I came on stage in 1986, the same year Museveni came in power and people must be tired of me as well," he says.

Changing preferences

The audience that used to enjoy the likes of Christopher Mukibi, Benon Kibuka and others no longer come to theatre. The young generation that comes to theatre would perhaps want to see younger people on the stage. The young generation for this reason have resorted to concerts.

If you have been to Theatre Factory's comedy night at the National Theatre you might have realised that most of their audience are young people. They come here because the actors appeal to them.

Had it been that theatre factory was composed of the aged actors, perhaps it wouldn't have registered as much success as it has. Kenneth Kimuli a writer and actor with KPC drama team and Theatre Factory, says that the reason theatre is losing out is simply because most of today's writers are crisis writers.

"They write when there is an urgent need, but when there is no crisis such writers will have nothing new," he says. He sights the postcolonial times and the apartheid as the times when writers wrote most commendable plays.

"You can for example see that Uganda's classic plays like Ndiwulira, 30 years of Bananas and others, were written in the late eighties when the Aids scourge was on rampage, and when also Uganda had just got her independence. But now that the situation is calmer, such writers have nothing new to write about," he says. He suggests that these writers should shift from conflict writing to social-issue writing.

Ssimwogerere adds that when the rest of the city was tiling up, theatre maintained its old look. The chairs are old and some of these theatres like Bat Valley and Pride theatre before it closed still use pit latrines.

Such environments cannot attract the corporate people when there are better facilities like Cineplex, Silk, Angenoir and others. Ssenkubuge says that the reason why Pride Theatre, Cooper Theatre and other theatres could not be sustained is that the rent for these places was too high.

"We were paying a lot of money yet people were not coming, theatre is not like music, whether or not you have a show, you will still have to pay rent," he says. Kwezi Kaganda however says that, there is need to cultivate theatre in schools.

"Schools no longer mind about theatre, it is because of this reason that the corporate youth who have money, don't want to come to theatre."

He also says that people who have got some good education in drama have been taken by radio. Those who are now running theatre, do it because of passion.

"It is one thing to have passion for theatre and another to have the proper skills." It is for this reason, he says, that there are no longer any good plays.

Now that theatre practitioners have realised the crisis in their industry, there is need to stop blaming the rise of other forms of entertainment, but address the key issues that are evident.