Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company is ending the year with a heartfelt and worthy cause – spreading joy and delight to those around Grahamstown who won’t have the storybook Christmas that many of us have the pleasure of enjoying.

Their annual Christmas show, this year entitled Bhuti, the Bokkie, & the Christmas Beetle, will be part of the Umbhiyozo – Everything Christmas! evening held at the Rhodes Theatre Complex tonight (Thursday, 19 November). Together with the Grahamstown Foundation an evening of spectacular entertainment, fare from the theatre café and a mini Christmas market, is being held to raise funds for the Amaphiko Whole Person Venture.

The Rhodes Theatre will enjoy some extra cheer and fun with Bhuti and Bokkie again on Friday and Saturday, 20 & 21 November. After that the Feel Good tour, which intends to break down the image of theatre and the arts as elitist events for only the rich or privileged, hits Grahamstown by storm. Ubom! will tour the show, completely free of charge, to Makanaskop Old Age Home, Temba Hospital, Fort England, the Army Base, Somerset Place, Settler’s Hospital, Waainek Correctional Centre, Ethembeni, and McKaiser Old Age Home.

Many of these institutions are regulars on the calendar for the Feel Good tour, but Ubom! hopes that with further funding many more deserving people will have the chance to have some magic brought to them during the festive season. Thursday 26 November sees Ubom! bringing some joyous fun to B B Zondani Hall where those who can’t afford the Rhodes Theatre ticket prices are given the chance to see the show and a hat is sent round to collect whatever the audience can pay.

Without generous funding from the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund, the National Arts Council, and Rhodes University, this worthy cause of taking theatre to underprivileged communities would not be possible. With a cast of 10 adult actors and 15 young dancers, the production, administration, subsistence and transport costs amass.

Taking the community engagement ethos to an entirely new level, the opportunity provided for close interaction between professional, full-time actors and talented local community actors prevails in this project. The combination of full-time trained professionals and raw grass-roots talent creates a fantastic, dynamic and exuberant power on stage that can only serve as encouragement to any who witness it; encouragement to engage with each other and appreciate South Africa’s diverse citizens.

An added element is the inclusion of the young people for whom the fundraiser event is organised. Talented dancers from the Amaphiko Township Dance Project are auditioned and chosen to be part of the extravaganza; many of them debuting on the theatre stage. They are the real heartstring-pullers of the show with their wide smiles and enthusiastic energies.

With funds raised via productions such as this, these talented young dancers are given the opportunity, via the Whole Person Venture to attend extra dance classes. They are also given the opportunity to attend classes, many of which are tutored by Rhodes students on a volunteer basis, to help them raise their marks in their other school subjects and give them the chance to get into university. One of the dancers who joined this project when she was 10, obtained a bursary and is currently in her second year at Rhodes.

The deservedness of these young talents in receiving further education to solidify the success of their futures is apparent in their commitment to the gruelling work that a theatre production demands.

Umbhiyozo – Everything Christmas!
Venue: Rhodes Theatre Complex
Date & Time: Thursday 19 November at 18h00
Tickets: R55 per person

Bhuti, the Bokkie, & the Christmas Beetle
Venue: Rhodes Theatre Complex
Date & Time: Friday 20 November at 16h00 and 18h00, and Saturday 21 November at 18h00
Tickets: R10 for childrena and R15 for adults

Bhuti, the Bokkie, & the Christmas Beetle
Venue: BB Zondani Hall
Date & Time; Thursday 26 November at 17h30

For more information please contact Sarah Roberson or Nosiphiwo Fihlani on (046) 603 8771/ 8966 or s.robeson@ru.ac.za / n.fihlani@ru.ac.za