October International Theatre Festival kicks off

Hamilton Dlamini, Alexandre Dos Santos conduct masterclasses

MBABANE— The October International Theatre Festival launches with an inspiring influx of young talent and cross-border artistic mentorship.

This year’s opening phase is the Genesis Ekucaleni School of Creative Arts, bringing together learners and teachers from 20 schools for an immersive celebration of storytelling, movement and performance.

The festival is currently taking place at the Mbabane Theatre Club, and the energy is palpable as participants dive into rigorous dance and theatre sessions. International collaboration anchors the training ground: Renowned Mozambican choreographer Alexandre Dos Santos is leading the dance tracks, while acclaimed South African actor Hamilton Dlamini is steering the theatrical arts curriculum. Supplementary creative writing, poetry and directing workshops are simultaneously unfolding across the American Corner Mbabane and Yini Loku.

For the student actors under Hamilton Dlamini, the training goes far beyond memorising a script. Dlamini’s masterclasses focus heavily on the foundational pillars of stagecraft: Acute listening skills, mental conditioning, ensemble teamwork and the discipline of mastering dialogue. Most of the learners in the theatre class were champions from the Inyatsi Schools Theatre Competition, including Swazi National High School and Ngomane Primary, fresh from their cross-border collaboration with Dlamini at the IGAZI play hosted in Mbombela by South African actor Phindy The Real Queen, where they also participated. This was a possible collaboration brought together by the Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture.

Dlamini gave the learners different characters to act out to give them the confidence to fit into any character and be successful in the industry. Other lessons included crying out of the blue when a character demands it, and he advised them to think of a situation that made them feel distressed to be able to articulate it, educating them that acting fast and not waiting for an hour to perform a character is how they get roles.