The beauty of theatre: Theatre is for people......

The beauty of theatre: Theatre is for people......: You might work hours and hours, days and days, months and months, years and years masering your piece of art whether its a song, poem, dance...

Theatre is for people......

You might work hours and hours, days and days, months and months, years and years masering your piece of art whether its a song, poem, dance,theatre or paintng it does not matter if people dont like it; if people dont appreciate it; if people are not behind your work,your creation won't go anywhere...you must as well stay with under the box unless its a choice. I met up with a friend in joburg she is a well known actress, actually i think she is the best one we have as our own she exhumes an amazing oresence and presence, she is beautiful on stage and she is working hard she has done well for herself, she just had a opening night for her show, for a woman of her calibre you expect a marvelous and wonderous turn up of audience but to her dimay and my shock the openning night did not do so well, mind you its not the lighting ,blocking, make-up costume or acting.BUT people did not pitch, my question is how does the audience affect the perfomance of show including behind the scenes.

I was perfoming in swaziland with  Tumelo Khoza, i expected not to have an audience becouse iam used to not having an audience surely i channelled my mind to accept the predicaments of the situation, to my surprise, we had about 50 chairs and those chairs were filled only two or three empty chairs yet it was occupied by cameras and woter bottles. My perfomance was different i felt that the stage was for the audience therefore respect is crucial, also felt that they owned what was in front of them yet it became my territory yet it becomes my solitude they boosted me to be more creative even after the show  i was being fed the energy i needed as a artist and i responded with the same energy. The audience was also perfoming with me  feeding each other energy. It was an awe moment for me, i asked my self  how did they do it to have such a turn out.

what if the audience is not there? what is the purpose of my theatre? what happens to an actor, poet, dancer, singer,painter if the audience is not there??

"Theatre is for people we do it for them,  hungry they become fuller we become"_Bandile Mkhize

THE LEVEL OF THEATRE IN MY YOUTH(FORGET JOHN KANIs AND BHEKI MKWANIs)

Theatre....it pisses me off when people disrespect your craft humiliate your calibre and what you giving. I arrive in this set of location already there are floating in woter but still they are drowning their limitations with egotistical attitudes,all i hear is a messed up behind schedule unfocused cast full of complains,and im being asked not to run away because of the problems in the show. mind you 6days left to premier and there are people reading their scripts started in rehearsals in january now its april...and iam asked not run away...i hear people saying they are professionals and they dont want to associte themselves with something that its not professional. PROFESSIONAL my left paralysed leg what is professinalism if after 3months you still unscript down??what is professionalism if we have in a rehearsal room15 directors?? what is professionalism if an actor performs on stage and there is unsopius laughter from other actors??what is professionalism if some actors are busy on their blackberries,galaxy ipad, and some still have nokia 3310??what is professionalism if you disrespect the director who do you think you are this person hired your bloody black or white ass.

i respect my craft iam Philisiwe Sithole and i was to born and raised to love and worship theatre i remember i was taught by Luke O Gomer and Debbie Lutge from courtyard theatre to respect theatre not to eat in the theatre, not to put your feet on the chairs always be aware of everything backstage, when you audition do your research,always wear black it helps,be in the moment of truth and realisticity of your character, know about aristocle, artaud, augasto baol,stanislavsky, grotovsky,brencht even though i hate him, read plays  watch plays read scripts go to workshops network.It sustains you to wake up every morning and face the hardships of unsopius industry.

iam not John Kani iam not Bheki Mkwane but iam Philisiwe Sithole, me and the others (theatre makers theatre keepers storykeepers and storytellers)we wont tolerate being disrespected and humiliated,i rather create magic in theatre unpaid  than work with "'professionals""

Theatre is my life and im here to breathe life to lifeless hungered theatre lovers,theatre is not acting, theatre is life theatre is acting reacting , theatre is distubance theatre is carthatic, theatre is invention, theatre is secretive, theatre is pretense,theatre is a stage and audience and nothing ever in between


Philisiwe Sithole.

AUDITIONS AUDITIONS AUDITIONS FREAKS ME OUT!!!!

My husband says you can't say you an actress but you hate auditions, but its the truth i hate auditions they make  me look like i made a mistake to choose this career but yet again i didnt chooese this career it chose me i was chosen by it. I dont like the idea of competing and waiting in a que wich its a a diplomt statement becouse its part of my calling to stand in a que and be a nervous wreck.

I went to an audition it was filled with few south african well known artist respected in their calibre that on its own freaked me out. i asked my self what am i doing here i cant compete with  these guys they like my heroes in art,yet again they are human beings doing their job description which is auditioning...actually mine too!

I cant face rejection.

I love theatre but hate auditions im hoping one day i will get a call that says "philisiwe sithole im calling to ask if you would like to be part of the show, film,concert we are doing." well i have to create that  in the experience iam getting from the show i will be doing te gig i wll be perfoming in but it starts with an audition its hard to hear NO, but its part of me part of my calling.....

AFROCENTRIC JAZZ DYNAMIC VOICE she said that....

i was excited when i was asked to perform in this spactucular event it was a good experience luckily i think im good in writing songs so i jotted down few lyrics and i liked them. I recorded the song and it sounded good i got a friend of mine to help me deliver this song  he was a djembe player ,percussionist and guitarist very passionate with world music, music that  is unlabeled and easily imitated becouse its a soul to soul  perfomance and we rehearsed and rehearsed improvised went to trance it was a joy to rehearse becouse i was free to be free the day came for me to perform and i did it was more than  just perfoming a song i was releasing what was inside and it felt in right ears and the audience loved it alot im proud to say iam collecting my experiences i feel alive when i perform live and perfoming on stage and i got good feedback and some guy wants to manage me but im not easily impressed by those people. i felt like i was being true to who iam what im made of alot people dont know my sound they were relly impressed and those who know me saw growth and passion, im grateful to MIRIAM MAKEBA,LETTA MBULI,CAIPHUS SEMENYA,MADALA KUNENE,BHEKI KHOZA, HUGH MASEKELA, SIPHO MABUSE,BUSI MHLONGO,THANDISWA MAZWAI,SIMPHIWE DANA,FRESHLYGROUND KWANI EXPERIENCE,JONAS NGWANGWA,ASA,INDIA ARIE,THE SOIL,MCOY MRABATA,JIMMY DLUDLU, VUSI MAHLASELA,,,just to mention a few music is a calling i dont care how good i sound or how bad i sound all i kow is that i communicate to my vocies and hungry ears

DANCE AND POETRY

seems like a dance piece is incomplete without spoken word, there is a remarkable relationship between dance and poetry it has become very popular to use this two elements of artforms to enhance story telling. dance is more in the body which is amazing to watch putting the element of spoken word introduces the ideology of collaboration and making theatre. iam doing a show and iam a poet in a dance show iam a bit nervous because i have never done such work yet again i have danced before and performed my poetry. its all exciting how things come about we will be rehearsng from nextweek so i will enlighten you on the journey as poet in a dace piece and the process of making it happen.its a heavy piece speaking about sensitive issues im given an opportunity to write my own work.

NO FORTH WALL

The exciting thing about theatre for me is the ability of creating a second world, to create an illusion and being allowed to be in it and explore. Theatre is two worlds the audience, the actors,(the stage ,the auditorium) theatre for me has to make my inside turn or move i would like to feel the uneasiness to moved from my comfort zone yet again i think killing the forth wall does not allow that. I was in a production that removed me totally from my comfort zone it was not an easy ride, the crucial element in that stage play was interacting with an audience sharing the journey of the show with the audience, because they there for the show so i was told that immediatly if you succumb in your own world you discord the relationship and interest of the audience in that moment i despised brencht for emphasizing the ideology of devices and allination. i didnt undrstand why i should always keep eye contact with the audience i felt like i was dectating the story to them i even felt that i dont trust the story that it will sit well with them but no need for me to always feed the story. what really confused me was the separation of character and actor those are two different deliveries in theatre, whether its an actor being a character or an actor being in the moment of actinng then comes out of the characer and become an actor(the person)

what i really learnt in no forth wall experienced was that the audience is part of the illusion the become the world you leave in and they transpose energy to you as actor you feel the connection you have, and as an actress perfoming in this show i felt that i was appreciated they going through this show with they empathize sympathize with the character because im making them be part of the show and showing gratitude .

but i still like my forth wall to be there

2012-02