One of the Durban theatrical success stories is the annual Musho festival which this year was hosted at the Catalina Theatre and BAT Centre earlier this month. Musho is a festival of one and two hander theatre with productions gleaned from South Africa and abroad, and is one of the projects of the KZN chapter of the Performing Arts Network of SA. It is a great way to start the new year! 

January is traditionally a quiet month for the entertainment industry – recovery time after the festive season bustle. Musho means no time for lethargy or complacency and a vigorous start for the performers and audiences. No sooner are the curtains down after the fabulous festive froth, that we head straight back onto our stages with a fistful of original and interesting pieces: exciting stories, innovative writing and brave new performances. For us in the industry it means starting the year as we mean to continue.  

Remarkable theatre wasn’t all that Musho offered this year – it provided a platform for questioning a myriad of issues. 

Tararam (the  South African Israeli  cultural fund) hosted an interesting piece of non-narrative physical theatre about the complex life of Palestinian performer from Nazareth. Debates, discussions and dissent ensued about the appropriateness of hosting an Arab-Israeli piece at this politically volatile time. This provided an opportunity for politicians, performers, academics and audiences to grapple with these issues and interrogate and question the intrinsic relationship between culture and world politics. It reminded us that a decision made by a theatre festival organising committee in Durban was extremely impactful and had huge implications that could not be seen in isolation. It reminded us too of the role of the cultural boycott leading to our country’s transition, and the tremendous potential that our industry has as a creative force to shape thought, opinion and change.

One of the events on the Musho festival programme was a Saturday afternoon PANSA forum during which the panel, made up of industry professionals, examined the changing paradigm in relation to the arts industry. An overwhelming shopping-list of challenges emerged from the frank and brisk session.  We learned that transformation in our industry still has many obstacles, and needs vision and an effective skills programme to improve the status quo. 

Many professional theatre managements were rapped over the knuckles – they are considered “anaemic” for not doing enough to open their spaces to expose new work, and they seldom work meaningfully with the communities they serve. We are not seeing enough “nation building” on stage – the managements need to look at prioritizing initiatives which tell distinctive and local stories. They were also criticized for offering performers and service providers from outside KZN opportunities which should have been offered to the local community.

Predictably the panel and floor agreed that there is poor alignment of funding the arts – and bad implementation. The government needs to invest more into the creative industries and operate more efficiently. The city has no clear arts and heritage policy: 200 councilors serve 3,5 million people with little attention to the arts and heritage. There are plans in place but it lacks detail and small-print.

The Musho festival ended with a two day PANSA strategic session where we critically examined our industry to create priorities for the year ahead.   

Maybe Obama’s global message of hope and optimism found its way to us, as the over-riding message we gleaned from the Musho experience was upbeat. We know our strengths – we can boast “People Passion Performance” (Pansa’s funky new slogan) and we can see the challenges. Complacency helps no one. There is a space for critical voices among ourselves, with our partners, media and audience. We need to be optimistic and make the change.

For ideas and input, drop me a line on illa@pubmat.co.za or visit www.pubmat.co.za. 

Illa Thompson

Performing Arts Network of South Africa, KZN

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