Winning plays, songs rewarded as festival ends

Golden Elite pupils from Lake Region celebrate their win in the oral narrative category during the Kenya National Drama Festivals at Lions High School in Kisumu, on Sunday. PHOTO | JOHN NJAGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The 10-day festival was hailed as the most successful ever.
  • Students presented impressive items after a 10-day marathon of plays, cultural and modern dances, poetry and narratives. 
  • Secondary schools from Western Kenya had the highest number of entries at the festival.
  • In the colleges category, four of Kibabii College’s items made it to the gala.

The best items in the 58th edition of the Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama Festival were presented during a Gala Concert at Tom Mboya Labour College and Lions Primary School in Kisumu County on Sunday.

The 10-day festival was hailed as the most successful ever. It was held at the college, Nyamasaria and Lions primary school and Kisumu Girls and Kisumu Boys high schools.

Sunday’s event attracted a big audience and was graced by Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, festival chairman Chokera Kahura, executive secretary Sirengo Khaemba among others. 

Students presented impressive items after a 10-day marathon of plays, cultural and modern dances, poetry and narratives. 

 Among the plays presented on Sunday was Kakamega High School’s The Web.

Directed and produced by the school principal Oliver Minishi, the play showed that social media also has its dark side.

KIBABII COLLEGE

Perennial winners Nakuru Lions Primary School presented their item directed by Ms Lillian Midigo.

Secondary schools from Western Kenya had the highest number of entries at the festival.

In the colleges category, four of Kibabii College’s items made it to the gala.

The college presented a cultural dance, play, choral verse and a modern dance.

Kibabii’s play The Pendulum is a story about a couple in an endless search for a child.

In the oral narrative category, St Teresa Girls’ presented an item about a student suspended from school for tricking the deputy principal.

WINNING CHORAL VERSE

In the special category, Kwale School for the Deaf from the Coast presented the winning choral verse while Bondeni Primary from western Kenya staged the winning cultural dance.

In the same category, St Catherines Butula and Malanda School for the Mentaly Handicapped also presented cultural dances .

Kenyatta University dominated in the university category plays, presenting two items in the gala. These Kenyatta University Main Campus and  Kenyatta University Ruiru Campus. 

This year’s festival featured high quality items and adjudicators had a hard time selecting the winners. Improvements were especially displayed in the plays and films categories. While plays have always featured in the festival, the film category.

Speaking during the gala on Sunday, Kenya National drama festival  chairman Chokera Kahura thanked the Lake Region for holding a successful, no incident festival.

He said that security in the event has been very tight and he also thanked the adjudicators for being impartial.