KAMPALA — The three-day famous play, “Echoes Of Lawino has successfully been concluded at Uganda National Theatre after an outstanding performance and a lecture through a well scripted theoretical production calling for an ear for rural African cries.
Echoes of Lawino, an extract play from the late Okot P’Bitek’s famous book of Songs of Lawino is about the lamentations of rural woman named Lawino who gets worse as her educated husband named Ocol runs away from her and start seeing everything traditional as inferior.
Lawino is a character, in which a rural woman cries asking for help. Making it a duty for every responsible person to make sure she stops crying. The pay
Speaking to reporters, the main actor and the executive producer of the play, Ojok Okello revealed to that the masterpiece is a theoretical production by Okere City.
“Okere City is a rural development project in Otuke district, Northern Uganda that uses multiple ways to spark catalytic transformation. We believe that the creative arts is a significant way of making people to reflect about who they are, about where they are, and where they want to be and how they want to get”.
He said the play speaks to the day to day realities of our country.
Ojok added that they are trying to reimagine rural development by investing in many projects including an early childhood development centre and a health centre.
“We have created multiple jobs by creating small businesses like barber shop, grocery shop that altogether employ up to 50 young people in the village, but also just bringing people together to appreciate their culture to learn their culture and to let the old women teach the younger generation about culture and tradition. It has been so exciting,” he added.
Destiny Gladys Chaiga who acts as Clementine said the play urges ‘us to uphold our roots.’
“We understand we live in a civilised and modern world, where we are adopting to very many cultures, values from other continents, which are not African, or from other countries that are not necessarily Uganda or from other cultures within Uganda that are not necessarily where we have grown.”
Quoting a famous saying, she added: “Don’t uproot the pumpkin from the old homestead” requesting people to uphold their values and cultures.
