Nyombi Thembo: Alex Mukulu was theatre’s leader of perfection – Sqoop

As Uganda’s creative industry waits to see how the government will honour the late theatre icon Alex Mukulu, Uganda Communications Commission executive director Nyombi Thembo believes the industry should not simply wait for recognition from above. It should also learn to honour its own.

Speaking about Mukulu’s immense contribution to Ugandan theatre, Nyombi said the passing of one of the country’s most celebrated playwrights, actors and directors should force the creative fraternity to look inward, not only at how it celebrates its legends, but also at what has happened to the standards Mukulu represented.

“Today, as we wait for the government, we should make our associations and honour ourselves with medals,” Nyombi said.

Drawing a comparison with the Oscars, Nyombi argued that recognition of artistic excellence does not always have to come from the government.

“The medals given at the Oscars don’t belong to the American government,” he said, suggesting that Uganda’s creative bodies can also build their own culture of recognising excellence and preserving the legacies of those who have shaped the industry.

For Nyombi, however, honouring Mukulu should go beyond medals, ceremonies and glowing tributes.

The real tribute, he argued, would be a return to the discipline and excellence that defined the late theatre maestro’s work.

“Alex transformed Ugandan theatre and has contributed a lot to the industry. And if we are to transform his passing, we should bring back perfection,” Nyombi said.

In his view, theatre has increasingly drifted away from the painstaking preparation, structure and attention to detail that once defined the art. While improvisation has its place, Nyombi warned that it should never become a substitute for excellence.

“Improvisation is good, but it should be secondary. Let us go back to perfection. We miss perfection,” he said.

And in Alex Mukulu, Nyombi said, Uganda had one of the finest champions of that standard.

“Alex Mukulu has been the leader of perfection.”

His remarks touched on a wider conversation about the state of theatre, with Nyombi arguing that the growing dependence on improvisation has, in part, contributed to audiences walking away from the art form.

“We are saying people have abandoned theatre because improvisation has overtaken perfection,” he said.

For an industry now mourning one of its most influential voices, Nyombi’s call was both a tribute and a challenge: let Mukulu’s death not only be marked with medals, official funerals and emotional speeches, but with a revival of the excellence he spent his life demanding.

Because, as Nyombi put it, “Art is known for perfection.”

Perhaps that is the legacy Mukulu would have wanted most, not simply to be remembered as a theatre giant, but to see the theatre he helped transform return to the perfection he embodied.