Robert Bellarmino Serumaga (1939 â€" September 1980) was a Ugandan
playwright.Born to a Roman Catholic family in Buganda, Serumaga was
raised by his mother, Geraldine Namotovu. He won scholarships to study
at St Mary's College, Kisubi and St Henry's College, Kitovu. He
studied economics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he encountered
Irish theatre and the Theatre of the Absurd. He returned to Uganda in
1966 or 1967. Initially employed as a government economist, he soon
moved towards the theatre. He founded the National Theatre Company in
1967, writing A Play (1967), The Elephants (1970) and Majangwa (1971)
for them. These plays were all influenced by absurdism, the lack of
narrative action mirroring the stagnation of Ugandan society under
Milton Obote.In 1971, the year Idi Amin came to power, Serumaga
founded a private theatre group made up of fourteen school leavers.
Initially known as Theatre Limited, the group was later renamed the
Abafumi ("Storyteller") Theatre Company. Serumaga drew on the theories
of Constantin Stanislavski and Jerzy Grotowski to train his company in
the psychological identification of actor and character. More
fundamentally, he created a new dramatic form for Abafumi. By means of
an abstract drama of physical movement and dance, political criticism
of Amin could be enacted without censorship:Amayrikitti was even
performed at Amin's invitation at the 1974 Organization of African
Unity Meeting in Kampala, with Amin describing it approvingly as
"gymnastics".
playwright.Born to a Roman Catholic family in Buganda, Serumaga was
raised by his mother, Geraldine Namotovu. He won scholarships to study
at St Mary's College, Kisubi and St Henry's College, Kitovu. He
studied economics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he encountered
Irish theatre and the Theatre of the Absurd. He returned to Uganda in
1966 or 1967. Initially employed as a government economist, he soon
moved towards the theatre. He founded the National Theatre Company in
1967, writing A Play (1967), The Elephants (1970) and Majangwa (1971)
for them. These plays were all influenced by absurdism, the lack of
narrative action mirroring the stagnation of Ugandan society under
Milton Obote.In 1971, the year Idi Amin came to power, Serumaga
founded a private theatre group made up of fourteen school leavers.
Initially known as Theatre Limited, the group was later renamed the
Abafumi ("Storyteller") Theatre Company. Serumaga drew on the theories
of Constantin Stanislavski and Jerzy Grotowski to train his company in
the psychological identification of actor and character. More
fundamentally, he created a new dramatic form for Abafumi. By means of
an abstract drama of physical movement and dance, political criticism
of Amin could be enacted without censorship:Amayrikitti was even
performed at Amin's invitation at the 1974 Organization of African
Unity Meeting in Kampala, with Amin describing it approvingly as
"gymnastics".
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