Arts Views with Thabani H Moyo
NELSON Mapako is one individual who has contributed immensely to Zimbabwean Theatre landscape. He is a brave theatre director, a crafty scriptwriter and above all an ardent theatre trainer. He is a gentle and humble team player.
He has molded many theatre actors and has not sung about it and they have not bothered to acknowledge him either. Most of the young theatre practitioners have had a brush with Nelson Mapako in one way or the other.
This is the man who is missed by the theatre fraternity today. He has disappeared from the sector and it is as if he has never been there. But who is Nelson Mapako?
Nelson Mapako grew up in the mining town of Hwange where, during his days, theatre was a preserve for whites and a few blacks who lived in the low density suburb where the Little Theatre is located. Nelson tried football and his feet were not that good with the ball, so he quit. He went for boxing and found the punches from his opponents very painful, he threw away his boxing gloves.
He then picked up the lead guitar and his little fingers tantalised the strings and he managed to produce good tunes with this new found friend. He found himself brushing shoulders with Hwange band members. He was only in form two.
In 1989 Nelson was invited to a drama rehearsal by Monious Nyathi, a friend. He loved what he came into contact with, Theatre. He successful landed a lead role and became a member of Tikwele Drama Group. Here, he met Judea Dube, David Mwale, and Mike Kadiga. Now Nelson had to find a balance between Theatre, Music and his books.
Theatre took most of his time. He quit music. He had passion for Theatre. Nelson Mapako had begun a journey that will become part of his life. Nelson Mapako’s biggest inspiration was Zimbabwe Association of Community Theatre (ZACT) which at the time was making a lot of waves throughout the country. ZACT had membership of groups like Bambelela Arts Ensemble, Phakama Theatre Production, Batsirai Theatre Company, Mabvuku Cultural Drama club and Chevhu de Chevhu.
Nelson Mapako says, “It was however Ngugi wa Marii who inspired me to be a writer and a director par excellence. I should also mention Nicholas Moyo, the current director of National Arts Council, who at that time was ZACT’s Projects officer. He always challenged me to explore fully my potential.”
In 2006 Nelson Mapako was seconded by NACZ Bulawayo office to work with Swaziland Theatre for young people. In Swaziland he took the position of Programs and Training Officer.
He did a lot of commissioned Theatre work in that country. Some of the plays he did in Swaziland are Night Shift, Silent screams, never a comrade and the Tihlabane Awards nominated play ‘A drop in the land’. The play toured Zimbabwe and was part of Intwasa Arts Festival. While in Swaziland Nelson Mapako also did a TV Puppetry Project with Pedzisayi Sithole and Maswati Dludlu.
On his Swaziland experience Nelson Mapako had this to say, “I never enjoyed the renumeration in Eswatini. The pastures were just not as green as I had envisaged, however I don’t regret ever going there. Given a chance I would return. Nothing is soothing to a theatre trainer to mentor someone and see them grow and make an impact within the sector.”
Nelson Mapako left Swaziland in 2011 when Zimbabwe introduced the U.S dollar. Its lure was irresistible. His family was also residing in Zimbabwe so he thought it best to work in his own home country.
He thought the introduction of the U.S dollar was going to improve the livelihood of artists “but nothing has changed to date. The cake seems to be reserved for just a few,” he says. Nelson Mapako found that the playing field had changed. His local networks were lost and reconnecting with them was a huge task. “I am grateful to colleagues like Raisedon Baya who knew my ability and embraced me with both hands. I conducted several workshops around the country, I wrote several plays and also directed a significant number. I got a NAMA for directing Umbiko KaMadlenya, a play I still feel we did not fully exploit,” says the theatre guru.
Theatre Arts sector is still a far from the ideal. “Very few practicing artists own a house or other essential assets. Those who have acquired such would be found wanting when audited… One is saddened seeing the amount of talent, energy and ambition among young artists which eventually go to waste. Despite my complex severe anemia condition (a medical condition), this scenario has also exacerbated the frustration and forced me to scale down,’” screams the veteran theatre artist.
All is not lost though. Nelson is doing what he calls ghost writing and directing. He is also working on a children’s book which will be launched soon. In 2021, Nelson Mapako promises to bounce back under his new arts consultancy, Creative Ideas Arts Consultants. At The Zambezi Times we pray that Nelson Mapako’s health improves so that he comes back to the sector more energised. There is a gap that screams for him to fill within the Zimbabwean Theatre sector. Once a creative always a creative.
