Bongani Ntshingila
May 10, 2011 A slight and seemingly timid Bongani comes to life when the topic of theatre, art and community comes up. Ideas and words spew forth in a torrent of passion as he explains the positive effects that theatre and the arts are able to have on communities.
Bongani’s enthusiasm for theatre was ignited by his primary school teacher and mentor P.K Zange. From there, Bongani has blossomed into a theatre practitioner with skills in script writing, directing and performing.
After two consecutive years of staging his production Imbokotho as part of the DFL Festival which takes place annually at Wits University, Bongani learned of the DFL scholarship program. Imbokotho addressed issues that woman face today and illustrated the incredible strength that women possess.
As evidenced by Imbokotho, Bongani’s theatrical works are highly influenced by his passion for issues that affect communities.
His works fuse elements of improvisation, physical theatre and workshopping and ultimately aims to create a forum which brings up issues and allows them to be discussed. Regardless of whether resolutions are reached, what is important to him is that people not simply ignore issues of HIV and AIDS and service delivery, but rather engage in discourse and debate about these issues.
Bongani finds the DFL scholarship program extremely valuable. Being able to apply theoretical concepts in a practical manner is what he finds most interesting and helpful for his development as a theatre practitioner.
Written by Rahiem Whisgary