Themba Interactive performs at Targeting Talent Programme

• June 28, 2012 | Mildred Thabane

On June 21 2012, Themba Interactive performed their Interactive Themba Theatre to a group of 700 students at Drama for Life’s Targeting Talent Programme at the University of Witwatersrand's Theatre.

The programme, run by Themba Interactive and Drama for Life, is part of an equity programme, which takes grade 10 to 12 learners and teaches them about leadership using applied drama techniques.

Themba Interactive performed a short play on the day, which looked at issues of leadership and the abuse of power. In the play, a young resident assistant (RA) is forced to choose between his duties and a friend. He chooses his friend and is severely reprimanded by his senior for neglecting his duties.

Interactive Themba Theatre, a form of participatory theatre, was used to start dialogue between the actors/facilitators and the students.

The Themba team then selected someone from the audience and asked the student to re-enact a scene from the play in which she was required to take on the role of the senior RA and show how she would have dealt with the junior RA differently.

“Interactive Themba Theatre is about creating dialogue by experimenting. It pushes people to interact and tackle sensitive or difficult issues through entertainment,” says Ayanda Khala, Themba’s theatre company manager.