His entrepreneurship and dramatic flair are what’s putting him through his studies, writes Diane de Beer
Reviewing a piece recently by J Bobs Tshabalala, Poet-O-Type at the Soweto Theatre, I was hugely excited by not only the production, but also the writing.
It was too short a run to do anything more than write a review for last-minute viewings. But when I spotted that the company was doing a second (again short) season at the Soweto Theatre from November 15 to 20 and a later season in December in Cape Town, it was time to pin the director/writer down and get him to tell us his story. In the meantime, another play, Secret Ballot, is also opening at the State Theatre this weekend.
Originally from the Eastern Cape, he came to Wits to study drama in 2006… and that he has been doing steadily while making theatre in-between to fund his studies. Sound familiar? In the current circumstances this is just one of many young people trying to secure a future and fortunately, Tshabalala is more creative than most. But as a result, he still has to get a few modules for his degree which he hopes to achieve in the next few years as the money comes in.
That’s how his live shows started. He had to make money to live and study. But he also needed money to see other shows, something that’s hugely important to this young man. And believe it or not, that’s quite unusual. Not all theatre-makers/performers spend that much time watching their colleagues it seems. “I need to know what and how others are doing it,” is his explanation. It expands his mind and sets his imagination off on many different tangents. He cannot imagine how theatre-makers can just rely on their tiny universe to tell their stories.
He started with shows that brought together all the genres including theatre, music and poetry but this became too difficult to sustain. “I had to start looking at what people would pay to see,” says the astute entrepreneur. He wants to make art, but he also knows he has to survive.
In the process, he has also evolved his company which started out as a registered CC to a fully-fledged Pty last year. It made business sense.
“Everything in this world is a risk and I know we can lose everything tomorrow,” he says. But he also knows this is the time to pay his dues, which, in the long run, will benefit him as a surviving artist.
This is a time without gatekeepers, he believes. “We don’t need distributors anymore and can dictate our own terms.” And he’s right. The social, entertainment and media worlds are in flux because of social networks and technology. Those who can puzzle out this crazy environment and navigate the highways best, will create the new world.
This artist doesn’t know the rules, but he is certainly going to test and try different avenues to make his life work.
“There are so many gaps,” he says. “One product can have many different spin-offs.”
He describes his company as constantly evolving because that’s the nature of the work.