Organisers of Association of Teaching of English in Malawi (Atem) on Saturday bemoaned lack of sponsors for the competition.
The competition has been instrumental in improving English proficiency and uplifting theatre in secondary schools.
Atem President, Fanuel Mapira, said their proposals have been hitting a snag.
“We still do things on our own. Of course, some companies and organisations have tried to support us but we need more sponsorship for organisation and prizes for winning schools,” Mapira said.
He said schools invest a lot in costume and participation fee among other things.
Mapira indicated that at regional level each region uses its own budget but they take care of the national event which is set to take place in May this year.
However, some quarters have observed that Atem, which has helped unearth actors and actresses— among them theatre maestro the late Du Chisiza Jr— could have made strides now.
“The team needs to put its house in order and the organising team needs to wake up. Atem started long time ago and, by now, they should have been generating their own funds,” said a theatre lover, Madalitso Tembo.
Meanwhile, three schools from the South West Education Division (Swed) — namely Jacaranda School for Orphans, Joyce Banda Foundation and Blantyre Baptist Academy— on Saturday made it to the regional finals.
After failing to make it to the regional finals after several attempts, Jacaranda finally put
things right, and came first with ‘The Planned Mistake’ while Joyce Banda was second, shining with ‘The Dilemma’ while Blantyre Baptist Academy came third with their play ‘Leaders at Crossroads’.
The Swed competition held at HHI in Blantyre saw 12 schools battling it out in a contest which started in the morning and went all the way to night.
The contest started two hours late and was affected by power shortage and a generator had to be used throughout.
The host, HHI, failed to take advantage of being on home ground and came sixth while Chichiri, which has been dominating in the past years, could only claim fourth position.
The judges, led by Solomonic Peacocks Director McArthur Matukuta, hailed the schools for working hard on their productions.
He, however, said a number of the schools did not invest in research, misused sound and lacked originality, among other things.
Nonetheless, Matukuta and judges Paul Sezzie and Robert Magasa observed that some of the plays had potential to get to the next big stage in theatre.
The schools tackled various issues affecting the country, most notably corruption and killing of people living with albinism.
There were other awards which included Best Actor, which went to George Kajowa from Jacaranda; Best Actress won by Nthengwa Mzumara from Blantyre Baptist; Best English Speaker (Male), which went to Alex Kampira of Lunzu Secondary School while the Best English Speaker (Female) was Christine Bandawe of Blantyre Baptist Academy.
The Best Female character playing male role went to Memory Sanjika from Joyce Banda Foundation.
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