The Art of Rural Development

Since the advent of democracy in South Africa, gains made in the Arts, are not often celebrated on Freedom Day. Many black people did not have access to professional theatre in their provinces. In rural areas particularly, many did not even dream of a career in the arts, despite the Department of Arts and Culture’s attempt to create three drama companies in every province according to its White Paper of 1996.

Unfortunately, government has failed to fulfil this dream.

The UBOM! Drama Company in the Eastern Cape stepped into this void in 2003. UBOM! is isiXhosa for “life” and its dynamic founder Janet Buckland has indeed breathed much life into the performing arts sector in the province. Janet is from East London herself and brings more than 30 years of experience in the Arts to UBOM! as its artistic director. With more than 28 original theatre works created since inception, UBOM! has given upwards of 170 000 people in rural communities access to performing arts-related activities in the Eastern Cape.

The Rhodes University Drama Department in Grahamstown is the institutional home of UBOM!  Although the company is autonomous, their relationship with the university is mutually-beneficial. The university provides UBOM! with administrative support and its theatre experts feed into the artistic life of the company while UBOM! makes university theatre-life accessible to the poor.

UBOM! is a multi-faceted drama company. Their annual schedule balances “high society theatre work” for festival stages with shows created to inspire social change that tour remote rural villages. Download their full 2010 report at ubom.co.za to wrap your head around the breadth of arts training and innovative theatre productions conducted annually.

Every year UBOM! creates a series of theatre productions for children from schools across the socio-economic divide. Helping cultivate theatre-appreciating audiences amongst children in the province is an important mission for UBOM! Two cutting-edge shows are developed for the National Arts Festival, and their annual Christmas show tours senior citizens’ homes and hospitals in Grahamstown and its surrounds free-of-charge.

As a drama company, UBOM! has a distinct identity. Its theatre productions that address the historical and cultural concerns of the Eastern Cape are acclaimed and its performances are renowned for being highly interactive and participatory. Some reviews have lauded the “intense physicality”; and “imaginative interplay of vocal and physical performance” characterising UBOM! productions.

Organisations use the ability of UBOM! to resonate with Eastern Cape audiences and commission specific issue-based theatre on topics such as gender-based violence, environmental conservation and substance abuse. This awareness-raising dovetails with the additional outreach which UBOM! conducts. It uses drama techniques therapeutically with local drama groups and schools to demonstrate other uses of theatre.

Part of producing theatre works of this calibre and taking them to isolated rural communities is employing artists to do this. 11 full-time theatre professionals are employed including a designer, a resident director and six actors. More than 30 artists (and at least 90 on an ad hoc basis) were gainfully employed since inception and have performed at festivals around South Africa and internationally.

UBOM! really develops an economic base for the arts in the Eastern Cape. It mitigates the “arts skills drain” that sees arts professionals leave for greener pastures in urban centres like Johannesburg and Cape Town.

In post-Apartheid South Africa, talented community professionals and young theatre graduates of all races from rural provinces can earn a living in the arts!

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