News from Angola – The play “A Panela de Koka Mbala”, premiered in 1982, was one of the great revolutions in theater in Angola in the most critical period of its history, said Angolan actor António on Tuesday (21), in Luanda. de Oliveira.
Speaking to the press at the opening of the International Theater Festival, organized by Elinga Teatro, the artist said that at the time of the premiere of the aforementioned play by the Experimental Teatro group, there were almost no other professional theater groups with notable shows in the country.
In this sense, he continued, the Experimental Theater already had the idea of searching for this text written by the Congolese Guy Menga, taking into account its greatness and international projection, and at that time it had already won international awards, including at UNESCO level.
For you, “A Panela de Koka Mbala” is a play that identifies closely with the Angolan reality in particular and has applicability at any time as it narrates real facts from Africa.
He said that the great theater movement that exists today began in the past, based on the Experimental Theater, which functioned as a theater laboratory, because all theatrical pieces to be made were evaluated by the group.
In this sense, he added, this occurred at a time when members had to leave the group to found others, which he also considered a revolution that culminated in the emergence of Horizonte Njinga Mbande, Oásis and then Etu Leno.
In relation to the current state of theater in Angola, he highlighted the increase in the country’s ability to organize shows of a national and international dimension, which, in his opinion, did not happen before.
“Theatre festival is the meeting of cultures, techniques, actors, directors; It is exchange and this exchange was lacking. But today we can already consider that most of the festivals held in Luanda are within international standards”, he argued.
The play “A Panela de Koka Mbala” is a social critique that addresses the difficulties that societies have in accepting the inclusion of young people and women in major decision-making.
In it, the King shows his advisors that he needs the Queen’s help, dedication and commitment for the Kingdom to evolve and to be able to solve the problems affecting the Kingdom of Koka Mbala where all visitors are taken through a pot.
The original text of the play is by Congolese Guy Menga, it was staged by Domingos Viana “Sting” and the cast is made up of António de Oliveira “Delón”, Josefa Chaves, Luís Pimentel, Álvaro Miguel, Macuel Herbete, Carlos Faz Tudo and Domingas Adão .
The staff also includes Rosa Augusto, Lúcia Domingos, Maurício Tavira, Conceição Diamante, António da Costa, Filipa António and Roberto Fagueira, some of them actors from the Experimental Teatro group, the first theater group that marked a post-independence generation and was part of the former secretariat. of the state of Culture of Angola.
Forty years after its premiere, the play has already been shown on the stage of the Royal Plaza, at Festeca and at Horizonte Njinga Mbande and today is part of the agenda for the first day of the 6th Luanda International Theater and Arts Festival.
The 6th Luanda International Theater and Arts Festival marks the celebration of the 36th anniversary of Elinga Teatro, which was founded on April 21, 1988.