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By Nimrod Ushe
Bulawayo – The Geraldine Roche drama competition finals will be held this coming Saturday at Bulawayo Theatre from morning till noon.
“This year’s finals will be held under numerous themes such as; Drugs, Peer pressure or fashionable, Internet, its advantages and disadvantages to society while aiming at introducing topics on ending Gender Based Violence, emphasis on the fact that justice delayed is justice denied, pandemics and their effects to arts industry, and so forth,” said the drama coordinator, Miss Khaliphile Sibanda.
She added that the above themes “are important because they educate the community which includes the artistes.”
This year’s finalists are the Colada, Jahunda, Loxion, Pezhuba, Roar, Stanslavysky and Vulindlela .They will perform on an opening piece of drama for this year’s edition which will be the ‘Less Miserables’ and seven finalists will be tussle each for the accolades.
The top three winners shall receive sponsorship and the top five shall in turn perform on the upcoming winter festival.
Geraldine Roche is an organisation that supports artistes in the Matabeleland region hoping to perform at national and international stages. Its first Competitions were held in 2019 with the sole aim of educating the community and artistes and this year 2021 will be its 3rd roll out.
One of the finalists Nomvelo Sibanda from Colada said that she went into this year’s edition to experience many things.
“I want to experience many things such as Musical drama, Opera music and International play.”
Nomvelo said that most of actors and actress are struggling because of the pandemic that resulted in shortage of funds and support from promoters due to strict lockdown rules and poor access to the internet.
Moreover, the program coordinator also bemoaned the impact of Covid 19 pandemic on arts as a hindrance to the potential the industry has in addressing the country’s problems.
“The arts industry has the potential to reduce pandemics, unite various ethinic groups in Zimbabwe and can help the government to initiate some of it’s plans,” said Sibanda.
