One of the main stages of performing arts in the Coast region, the Little Theatre Club, is at risk of closure following a directive from the Kenya Railways Corporation to turn it into a training institute.
The history of the club dates back to the 1940s. Soldiers of the British Royal Navy in Mombasa would stage plays in different locations during World War II.
In 1947, Captain Richard Moreton met with his group of thespians at a pub, and they started talking about looking for a permanent place to stage their plays. Belgian businessman Jean Colinvaux told Moreton to find a premise, and he would find the money.
They found a building in Mbaraki, where the Little Theatre Club (LTC) stands today, and Colinvaux purchased it for 5,500 sterling pounds.
In 1952, they moved to the LTC, a plot owned by the East African Railways and Harbours. The building was once a Royal Navy Club for the East Indies Fleet Canteen Committee. The Royal Navy left the premises in 1946, and the Pandya Memorial Society set up a medical clinic until 1951 for the LTC to occupy in 1952.
More than 1,000 theatre shows have been hosted at the LTC, with the first play being Little Lambs Eat Ivy by Noel Langley. In its early years, the Club’s Vice Chairperson Collins Mangicho says that staged shows had high budgets and told stories of World War II.
Today, the artists have evolved to creating stories relevant to the community and what is trending. The theatre has been graced by both adaptations and originals in the recent decades.
Former LTC Chairperson Dr Peter Odote recalls some of the most memorable plays by Kenyan playwrights were from the late Kuldip Sondhi, whose name appears in over 10 plays, like Don Geronimo, Parlour Games, and a BBC radio award-winning play titled Beach Access, which Dr Odote adapted for the stage.
The Curse and The Siren by the late Gillie Owino were also staged at the theatre.
This oldest theatre in the Coast region has faced many challenges, and one of its biggest was a potential land grabbing by politicians in 1996.
Mangicho recalls its saving through its gazettement as a national monument in 2002 by the National Museums of Kenya under the Monuments and Antiquities Act.
The threat returned; last month, the Club received a letter from the Kenya Railways Corporation dated December 18 that they wanted to occupy the property.
“We had a meeting with them on December 22, and they told us they want to start a Technical and Vocational Education and Training institute by January 1. We are trying to get a court order to stop any of their activities and get a permanent solution to this problem,” says Mangicho.
Dr Odote says; “First, the land on which the LTC stands belongs to the KRC through a lease agreement. However, since its gazettement into a national monument, there has been a lull in ownership rights. A tripartite agreement can be reached on the best way forward without infringing on the arts that existed there since 1952.”
Mvita MP Mohammed Machele held a meeting with the club’s officials this past week and assured them to find a lasting solution.
The premises has an auditorium, a stage, a dance studio, a recording studio, a restaurant, and several rooms for workshops and seminars. It has been at the centre of promoting community theatre around the coastal region through diverse cultural performances and exchanges.
Once known as the Garrison Theatre, it runs through grants, membership subscriptions, and donations, and presently, the Goethe-Institut has been one of its biggest financiers.
“It is a private members club but seeks support from various organisations, like the BOMAS of Kenya, which was a good partner who supported infrastructure towards achieving art tourism,” says Dr Odote.