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Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Reporter
A festival meant to tackle all things comedy is on the cards. Named KwaNtuthu Comedy Festival, the inaugural event will run over three days at different venues in Bulawayo.

The festival, that is set to kick off on October 27, will run under the theme “This is For You”. On the first day, a stand-up comedy and poetry show will be held at the Zimbabwe Music Academy. The following day will be Theatre Day at the Bulawayo Theatre before the festival hosts a Talent Search at a venue to be announced.

Bulawayo Theatre

On the evening of the final day on October 29, a Comedy Roast will be hosted at the Zimbabwe Music Academy.

The festival board secretary, Gugulethu Masha said they are looking forward to rolling out the event as it has been in the pipeline for years.

“The event is all about comedy, be it comedy in theatre, film, visual arts, or spoken word. The concept came about in 2018 after we, together with Umahlekisa, hosted the Bulawayo Comedy Fiesta which ran for two days.

“We planned to host it in 2020, but Covid-19 hit a month before our set dates,” said Masha.

Elaborating on the event’s theme, Masha said: “Now that the world is going back to normal following the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, we at KwaNtuthu decided to host this event for the people hence the theme, ‘This Is For You’. It’s an event to cheer up the people of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Africa, and just maybe, the world. The artistes are doing these jokes for you and we’re organising this for you.

“This is for you who are battling cancer or any other ailment. This is for you the survivors. This is for you the artistes, for keeping the people entertained. This is for you Bulawayo, the cultural capital of the country and this is for you the dreamer, it can be done,” said Masha.

Asked about performers, Masha said they are in the process of finalising the lineup from the applications that were sent.

“The criteria is simple, artistes have to apply to be part of the event. Thereafter, we’ll go through their works and see if they can perform for our target market. Obviously, we’ll also add acts that we’ll have head-hunted,” Masha said, adding that the festival is family oriented so the artistes’ content has to speak to that and be that which will draw crowds.

“Ideally, our lineup will be announced at our launch on August 27.”

Early this year, Masha said they decided to register the event as a festival.

“The vision is to make this an international comedy festival held in Bulawayo,” Masha said – @mthabisi_mthire