The purpose of art is to portray life as it is. When our world is joyous, art must reflect that beauty, but when our existence is beset with unrest, humiliation, and indignity, art must necessarily be equally drab and ugly.
Or one might say that the mission of art is to engage our most primal selves, to inflame our passion, and to provoke our insights. It should inspire us to drink and brawl and “give our sensual race the rein.”
Well, to put these musings to the test, we decided to talk with Kenneth Hillary, filmmaker and theatre producer at Kazins Entertainment.
“Let art heal the world,” he says. “Imagine life without poetry, music, or theatre. How would we ask the hard questions in society? How would we sit back and unwind after a hard day in the fray, fighting to survive? How’d we celebrate our wins?” He poses, before adding that art is a necessity.
Mentioning that their company, founded in 2017 by a group of childhood friends, produced short films and plays before Covid hit, “We got back into theatre in 2023 with The Antagonist (a two-hander).”
Cousins Entertainment's latest project, ‘Damned by the Dollar”, was staged at the Jalaram Auditorium over the weekend of 23rd – 24th August, to an audience enthralled by the thespians’ provocative portrayal of greed and desperation to get rich in our society today.
A comedy-tragedy play, adapted from a student’s family folklore about magic and heirlooms, the story follows a couple who stumble upon an Indian heirloom safe originally designed to help its owners survive drought. Obsessed with its promise of endless wealth, they steal it and bring it home, only to be consumed by their own greed. The wife descends into self-harm and conflict with her husband, while others, including the rightful heir of the safe, manipulate the situation for their own gain. As the obsession deepens, the safe’s curse escalates, culminating in chaos and mass death.
“If you were paid a million dollars for every small cut you inflicted on yourself, how many times would you cut in a day?” Hillary says the goal is to make having difficult conversations easy.
“And it’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.”
Yet the industry's current preference for content creators over artists is undermining the craft and hurting the industry, watering down competitive creation.
“Acting should be respected as a profession, not treated casually,” he emphasizes, adding that people should learn to partner with someone they can trust.
“It makes things a lot easier, because you get to achieve your dream, I get to achieve mine, and someone else gets to achieve theirs,” he says.
Hillary advises that to hone your craft and have the mettle to handle big projects, it is best to start with theatre, “Stage plays. The best thing is getting the audience feedback in real time.”
Saying that the Kenyan industry is not short of talent and can achieve a billion-dollar status and compete internationally, Hillary points out that the market is ailed by a lack of proper distribution channels for films/theatre, artists undervaluing themselves by giving free tickets or underpricing work, and a need for partnerships and collaborations across industries.
“However, all is not lost,” he sighs, then concludes, “Through persistence, passion, and valuing art properly, we will gradually shift perceptions and build sustainability,” smiling.
