Gcebile Dlamini – Theatre is my calling
JOBURG - Swaziland born, Gcebile Dlamini, who works with Hillbrow children who have theatrical ambitions running in their veins, is a hard core feminist who believes theatre is a calling for her.
Swaziland-born, Gcebile Dlamini, who works with Hillbrow children who have theatrical ambitions running in their veins, is a hard-core feminist who believes theatre is a calling for her.
Dlamini, who has been working with more than 30 schoolchildren at the Hillbrow Theatre for four years, will stage her production, Nomzamo, at the forthcoming Women’s Theatre Festival at the Olive Tree Theatre in Alexandra.
Her show will run on the weekend of 24 and 25 October, and will be part of many other productions directed by women as part of the festival that seeks to promote and encourage women and young girls to take up the arts.
She is currently hard at work rehearsing her show with her talented teenage girls. “This is not just to carve a theatrical career for the girls but is to build self-confidence in them which they can use for any other career of their choice, and to also keep them off the streets and away from mischief, especially in Hillbrow which has become notorious for drugs, crime and rape,” she said.
Dlamini comes from an arts-loving family. “The arts flow in the family veins as mom and dad also played instruments and were involved in theatrical work as well.”
Her mother’s family comes from Alex and later moved to Siteki in the hills of Swaziland’s Libombo region, where she was born in 1986 and cut her teeth in the creative industry through performances in church and school.
Dlamini holds a B-Tech degree in drama specialising in community theatre from the Tshwane University of Technology and took up a position at the Hillbrow Theatre upon completion of her studies in 2012.
She had earlier obtained a diploma in dramatic arts from the Durban University of Technology. “My dream and long-term ambition is to see these young girls grow up and take their chosen career paths and live their dreams,” she said.
“I will pat myself on the back for a job well done if they can grow up to become respected human beings in their fields of career activities, even if it is outside the arts industry.
“What I am giving them here is a foundation for life and not just for the arts industry, as they can use any of these life principles and apply them in their everyday life in whichever career they may find themselves in.”
Details: Gcebile Dlamini 072 181 5005.
