Nitumwesiga: don’t act if you don’t love it

Patience Nitumwesiga remembers her turning point just like it was yesterday. All through her primary and ordinary level studies, she fantasised about being a prominent figure. Her father, however, wanted her to become a lawyer.

Eventually, Nitumwesiga chose neither. She became a playwright, director and actress, thanks to a career talk she received in her A-level at Kyeizoba Girls Secondary School in Bushenyi.

“During one the career days at school, there was a gentleman from the department of performing arts that talked about studying drama. He made me realise that drama is just more than acting and it is much more like human psychology at a more creative level,” the light-skinned, small-bodied belle says. 

This imagination ran away with her to the extent that she applied for Theatre Studies at Makerere University as her first choice. Luckily, she was admitted for the course on government sponsorship in 2007.

She has not looked back.

In 2010, she joined Rafiki, a registered non profit making organization that uses participatory theatre to promote non-violence, human rights and sustainable development in East Africa.

Here, she wrote plays and poems, acted in, and created music for over 100 plays. Some of the remarkable plays include Makka Nyumbani, where she acted as a rebellious housewife who wanted to break free from gender inequalities and submersion but was held back by a rigid society. 

Nitumwesiga during the Makka Nyumbani play

More recently, she played a lead role in the first broad way musical, ‘Mango Roses’ as a pregnant woman forced to leave her home because she has a child out of wedlock.

The ritual of engaging her passion has enabled her to develop a thick skin towards the art of creation that she is now thinking about directing her own play. 

Nitumwesiga during Mango Roses

“Everyone thinks that when you are a girl, you have to act only. I only act as an expression. But I am looking forward to contributing to the artistic state of Uganda intellectually, creatively through play-writing and directing,” she enthuses, adding that all her savings are to be invested in developing the arts.

Nitumwesiga, however, does not recommend acting for those without the passion.

“One has to live with the consequences thereafter, and it is not very paying in Uganda. I am struggling with it myself but still learning a lot about it,” she says.

WITTY SIDE:

If you could try out a job for a day, what would you like to try?

Editing videos. I always get amazed at how much editors can do just by themselves. They need only material and a computer.

If someone was to make a movie about you, who would you want to play you and what title would best depict the story of your life?

The title would be ‘Nitumwesiga’ because my name is a statement-‘we trust Him/God’ and I love it. I would love to be played by Jada Pinkett, Will Smith’s wife. She is one of the most beautiful women I know and a very good actor.

What kind of music are you into?

I love African contemporary like that of Eric Manana, an acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter from Madagascar. I also love band music and occasionally go to watch and listen to Qwela Band.

What is your favourite joke?

There is a movie, ‘Arabian Nights’ where a Sultan played a very sick joke on a begger. He gave the begger a sedative, and in the sleep state, he was taken and groomed. When he woke up the next day, he was the sultan and couldn’t believe it. Everyone was told to treat him as the sultan and I thought, ‘If I would be president just for one day…’

Also, in the play, ‘Waiting for Godot’, there are two men saying ‘we have to go now’ and none dared move an inch.

If you could marry a cartoon character, who would you want it to be and why?

Alladin. He is one of the characters that are rogues on the outside but are deep on the inside. I like people who are not so obvious to read.

If you were on death row, what would be your last meal?

Fried chicken

What have you faked about being sick so you wouldn’t have to go to?

Hmm its terrible… There was this guy I was comfortable with at the beginning but as we kept communicating, I realised that I didn’t want to go and said I wasn’t feeling well.

What is the first thought you had this morning?

‘How is this day going to be?’ This is because I had a busy weekend.