2007 KADS Backdrop Trivia...

I spent 2 days charcoaling and 6 painting the “Kampala Skyline” backdrop (a total of 8),for “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, the 2007 KADS Christmas Pantomime which started on 5th December. I ate absolutely nothing throughout the day everyday from 7 am except for galloping a half litre of water at 7pm after packing the 7 metre cloth. Rain was my curse so I had to maximize sunny days. Even the Chogm weekend from Wednesday to Sunday 25th November halted my quick progress because I could not be allowed into the National Theatre premises without the special Chogm ID. The director of this production - Dr. Dick Stockley (a surgeon by profession and owner of The Surgery) is well known for such other works like Harry Porter and the Wizard of Oz, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and several others. Pantomimes are peculiarly English tradition, and for hundreds of years all over England, towns and villages are always anticipating their annual pantomime.

On Day One, my last Art teacher just before i dropped
Art in 2001 gave me painting tips plus his blessing...

Day Two, the Best Graffiti artist in Uganda (Xenson,
at least according to me) said he liked my graphical
presentation but told me that he wanted to see the
outlines on the building blocks. He valued my work at 5 Million. So the following day,
i started by painting the sky to strengthen the
outlines...

Day Three was like Women's Day. In the morning, a hot
young black babe asked if she could sit nearby and watch me
paint. That was just enough moral support to carry me
till the finish. Another lady, a 30 - 40 year old white woman clad in sunglasses alongside her friend loved the painting of the Sheraton building. She could not believe how I got the scales right and wanted to find out from me where the Chogm cultural village was. Later at lunch, a beautiful German pre-teen could not stop exclaiming
'Wow, wow, wow!' because it was unbelievable to her that
I had done all the painting by myself...

Day Four witnessed me striking a deal with a
playwright who promised to commission me to paint
backdrops for two of his future plays...

Day Five was the penultimate day, started and ended in
interesting ways. As i applied the first drop of paint,
a dragon fly hovered above the skyscraper image like
the buildings were the real thing and it was high up
above them like it can fly. A famous Ugandan dramatist
thought i was making a mural for Uganda's Best Dance
Group, the Obsessions(our own Spice Girls and N'Sync
combined).Also, a well established printer at Nasser
Road came with two of his friends and valued the
painting at 8 million. He and his friends gave me
hearty company, i can say, the best of the
fortnight...

Day Six was the hottest but i held on till the end,
talk of a boat capsizing when about to reach the
shore.A lady who works at the theatre's snack centre
confessed that at first she thought i would give up
but now the backdrop looked like 'something'. A
nursery and daycare centre was staging a production
for their parents between 2 to 5pm so they kept me
entertained. Then the KADS team jetted in and i felt i
had accomplished my job when i heard comments like
'spectacular,awesome, great and fantastic'...

This was a great experience and i hope i will
do more KADS projects in future...