I've just got back to Nairobi from a really great week with Lagnet Theatre in Ahero - about 8 hours away by bus. We started talking over facebook and Lagnet were kind enough to invite me over to see what they do and to facilitate a skills exchange. Thanks to them too, for putting me up for the week - staying with Tony was great...and thank you Edith for your patience teaching me to cook ugali! Lagnet are a really experimental and interesting group, focussed on pushing what community theatre and theatre for development can do, and how it looks. If you've got any questions get in touch with them on facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/lagnettheatrix/ )- I know they're always keen to hear from others working in theatre and the arts. They have a fantastic pool of actors drawn from the local community, and work closely with Ahero dancers. For me a highlight of the week was working with Desai to experiment with weaving elements of dance, image theatre, music and song and Lagnet's own approach to participatory performance together. We wanted to get thinking about a more playful, artistically diverse approach to doing theatre for development. I know that we'll stay in touch, and we're thinking about how we can keep working together to push forward with this work. Thanks Lagnet for your experimental and playful approach to doing this work...so important and inspirational given how so many in both Kenya and back in the UK feel challenged by how restrained and limited they often feel artistically when they're doing applied theatre. Anyway, less words more photos. Some pretty awful ones of me...
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Bobby SmithI'm a theatre maker and community educator, working mainly through applied theatre and Theatre for Development but also film and photography. Currently researching for a PhD, and looking for reasons to procrastinate...this blog is one... Archives
May 2017
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