Akwaaba, Ghana Theatre Festival 2018!

Ghanaian theatre has been gaining some great traction lately and it’s no surprise how this industry can lay some golden eggs for this economy if nurtured well.

Should structures be put in place to make this industry and the creative arts as a whole well regulated, the benefits that could be reaped will be overwhelming.

When a people give attention to creativity, their development knows no bounds. When they give space for their own story to be told by themselves, they are able to let the world know who they are and who they are not. And… this is the immeasurable impact the arts can have on a nation like ours.

Theatre has been used not just as a tool of entertainment but for communication and development in so many parts of the world. The therapeutic effect it has on its audience has been exploited as an alternative source of healing in some places. If we understand the power of theatre on the mind, we’d understand the power of theatre to our hearts.

If a healthy people makes a healthy nation, then theatre plays a major role in our health because in every theatre is a bloodless surgery where our emotions are operated on. When we frequent the theatre, we give ourselves an opportunity to live longer because every session is a one to relieve us of our stress.

Mind you, theatre is not a thing for the low-class. As a matter of fact, it belongs to anyone who has blood running through their veins. Theatre is an intellectual experience no one should ever be denied in their lifetime. You have no idea how well your mind can be stimulated until you have this awe-inspiring experience.

Ever heard of the Ghana Theatre Festival? Ever heard of the week-long event of flawless drama, matchless spoken word, beautiful food, thrilling dance and side-splitting comedy? Ever heard of the all week event where relevant stories of our society are told on stage with such verve and passion?

Imagine a whole week that would have National Theatre set on fire with mind-blowing performances from revered groups such as the National Symphony Orchestra, National Dance Company, University of Ghana’s School of Performing Arts (Dance Department) among others. And… that is the Ghana Theatre Festival! Of a truth, the Ghana Theatre Festival will be bringing a breath of fresh air to Ghanaians this September.

It comes as a great alternative for family and corporate hangouts. This annual festival gets more exciting as the years go by and it is one of the go-to events of every theatre lover.

From Tuesday, 25th September to Sunday, 30th September, 2018, National Theatre is going to be the center of energetically exciting performances from varied groups across the nation. Production houses such as Laugh Line, Ehalakasa, Village Minds Production and F.C Productions are set to massage the thoughts of Ghanaians with deep, relevant Ghanaian content.

This festival has always been a platform for both the young and old to showcase their innate abilities and this year is not going to be any different. It will feature well-packaged Ghanaian content suitable for all audience types. The festival has always been the official hangout for families that have been born and bred in cities like Accra with little or no rural life experience.

Stories told challenge our minds. They tickle the Ghanaian in us, taking us on a journey back to our roots. If you never have had a taste of the ever amazing Ghana Theatre Festival, this is such an opportunity to! There will be no dull moment at this year’s festival which is a part of National Theatre’s year-long 25th Anniversary celebrations. It will include theatre programs for schools, fashion shows, art exhibitions, dance-drama, drama, symposia, film shows, poetry nights, music and comedy.

The icing on the cake is the all-week “Made in Ghana” fair, running concurrently with the festival, which is set to give some good prominence to local content and products at the same venue. There’s no better opportunity to expose our local content to the world than this all-lit festival.

Excellently rehearsed and branded to make National Theatre the cynosure of all eyes in the last week of September, the festival week is one everyone should look up to. Main productions slated for the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September 29th and 30th, are to take place at 4pm and 8pm each day. All others during the weekdays are scheduled between 9am and 10pm.

Akwaaba, Ghana Theatre Festival 2018! I am not missing you for anything; not even for the best jollof there could ever be in this world. As for me and my household, the place to be in the last week of this month is the National Theatre!

The writer is a playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications, an Accra-based writing company (www.scribecommltd.com).