It is my pleasure to share with the readers of the View magazine about Uganda National Cultural Centre commonly known as The National Theatre.
Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC) is a Ugandan Statutory body that was established on 8th October 1959 by the Uganda National Cultural Centre Act,1959 as amended in 1965 with the mandate of Preserving, Promoting, and Popularizing Uganda’s cultural heritage both locally and internationally. Over the years, UNCC has been an icon in this country as a center for nurturing culture especially performing and visual arts
Among the projects under UNCC is the National Theatre which has greatly promoted Performing arts in this country through training, provision of space to artists. The theater has also acted as a meeting point for artists where they meet to develop and also share ideas. Our Auditorium whose architectural set up is at the international standards has stood the test of time, actually, it is the only one of its kind in Uganda and East Africa as a whole.
National Theatre Auditorium has a modern wooden plank stage boasting of an advanced 60-channel lighting system an in-built public address system, spacious dressing rooms for performers with ample shower and toilet facilities a foyer bar, restaurant, a carpentry workshop where sets can be constructed, and one small and large rehearsal/meeting room with two large spaces for open-air concerts and other performances. We have also a 12 channel lighting console to service any event held in the above spaces together with a heavy-duty standby generator to ensure productions are not disrupted by power cuts. The Auditorium is also equipped with a 300mm electronic film screen connected to a projector which you cannot find anywhere else in Uganda.
In case of fire, the auditorium has a safety curtain that safeguards the audience from the stage. This is boosted by the availability of standby fire extinguishers. Besides the safety curtain, our auditorium has the front of the house curtain, 4 legs curtains, 2 traverses (curtains that divide the stage), 2 pairs of borders, and cyclorama (Backdrop). All these drapes enable Performance Directors to create productions at the international levels at the UNCC auditorium.
The Theatre also has a state-of-the-art video unit to record productions that take place in the auditorium. It is also building up an audio and visual/ film archive and research office so that our rich cultural and artistic history is not lost to future generations.
For any production of any kind, the UNCC facilities (Auditorium) is the venue of your choice. It has an excellent setup facilities and staff of international
