Developing theatre making practice

Nanzikambe is concerned with:

• Negotiating the role of traditional cultural practise in the modern African context.

• Accessing hidden cultural performance forms and confronting their meaning in contemporary performance.

• Unearthing hidden or yet untold stories, and devising performances around themes and issues of direct and burning relevance to Malawi and the region.

• Exploring recurring themes of injustice, healing, connection and renewal.

• Tapping into elements and archetypes.

• Combining forms: spoken word, song, music, percussion, dance and theatrical performance.

• Pushing physical expression.

• Finding culturally specific theatrical expression.

• Adapting classics to the Malawian or African context.

• Provoking social and political issues.

• Creating spectacles in new spaces – on the street, in the township, outside the pastor’s house, in the ex-patriot’s fabric shop, in the health clinic.