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Yenze twice better with the Acting Arena
Patrick Kaboyo, the winner of the second edition during his solo performance. PHOTO/ANDREW KAGGWA
What you need to know:
- The Acting Arena is a platform where actors who may be known and those we have not seen get an opportunity to audition to the world. The second edition had actors from several theatre companies.
When the Acting Arena was first held at the beginning of the year, it was a fresh idea but one that got many in both the theatre and film industry wondering where the idea could go.
The Acting Arena is a competition where actors at different stages of their craft sign up and show what they have in the form of solo acts or monologues and group acts. The first edition that was held on January 31 only had solo acts and duos, although when the second edition was held at the beginning of April, a lot had changed and groups of more than two actors were signed up.
But that was not all. The second edition of the Acting Arena also had actors showing up from all sorts of theatre companies, from those based at the popular Bat Valley to those from the National Theatre. The edition was also taking place slightly a few days after the annual World Theatre Day celebrations, which saw the International Theatre Institute introduce Aganza Kisaka, also the founder of Yenze Theatre Conservatoire as the president of the Ugandan chapter. Thus, she was coming to this second edition with more hats, a board member of Women in Film initiative, president of ITI and a member of the newly formed Producers’ Guild Uganda, but above all, the brain behind the Acting Arena.
The Acting Arena is a platform where actors who may be known and those we have not seen get an opportunity to audition to the world, they take on challenges and at times, some of the people in the audience, who may be producers, can cast them, that is if they win or not.
“I am happy to announce that some of our actors from the first edition were cast in different productions,” Aganza said during her short speech at the second edition. The first edition was a mixture of both fresh and some old faces in the acting circles, although the second one introduced many new faces that were amazing and got many wondering where all these people had been. From Sanyu Liz, Kevin Kalyowa, Nafi and Patrick Kaboyo, the eventual winner of the day, there was a lot that this group of actors offered in their five minutes on stage. Unlike the first edition, this had a theme, it was mainly spooky, with stories capturing the supernatural. Kaboyo’s performance was a conversation between the devil and the body that the devil uses to do wrong.
Between flickers and weird body movements, he took us through the two different characters he was embodying and he made sure that we knew who was talking to us at which time. Most of the time, he was a tormented man who seemed to try changing his ways but the body demands were not letting him do that and he blamed the devil instead of himself; then a moment, he (as the devil) reminded us that he only gives us what we desire; do you want a masculine man or a beautiful woman? There was silence after his performance, a bit uneasy but many were grateful they had witnessed that kind of act. The Acting Arena has different judges for every edition they have organised and these shows are not judged in ways many people may be used to, there is a judge’s table but most of the times it has imposters; the actual judges sit within the audience. This edition’s judges were Deborah Asiimwe, Allan Manzi and Eron Ntulo.
Standout act
Patrick Kaboyo’s performance was a conversation between the devil and the body the devil uses to do wrong. Between flickers and weird body movements, he took us through the two different characters he was embodying and he made sure that we knew who was talking to us at which time.
