Writing the script in Kinyarwanda – Performing Sketches in Kinyarwanda (Senior 1 Music) | Ganzaa

Performing Sketches in Kinyarwanda

Lessons

Senior 1 · Music

Performing Sketches in Kinyarwanda

4 lessons

Lesson 3 of 4

Writing the script in Kinyarwanda

25 min

From plan to script

A script is the written form of a play. It tells each actor exactly what to say and what to do, so the sketch comes out the same at every rehearsal and anyone who joins the group can learn it. In this lesson you will read the complete script of Akabando k'Iminsi, see how the plan from the last lesson became dialogue, and learn how a Kinyarwanda script is laid out.

Worked example: the script

Akabando k'Iminsi
Abakinnyi: KEZA, umunyeshuri w'imyaka 13; GATETE, inshuti ya Keza; MWARIMU UWASE, umwarimu wabo.
Aho bibera: ku ishuri, mu kiruhuko.
Igice cya mbere
(GATETE arya amandazi. KEZA ashyira igiceri mu gasanduku gato.)
GATETE: Keza, ngwino dusangire amandazi!
KEZA: Urakoze, Gatete, ariko ndazigama.
GATETE: Uzigamira iki se?
KEZA: Akabando k'iminsi gacibwa kare.
GATETE: (ku bareba, aseka) Keza, buri gihe aba afite umugani!
Igice cya kabiri
(Nyuma y'ibyumweru bibiri. MWARIMU UWASE yinjira.)
MWARIMU UWASE: Banyeshuri, mu kwezi gutaha tuzasura Pariki ya Nyungwe. Buri wese azazana amafaranga ibihumbi bibiri.
(MWARIMU UWASE asohoka.)
GATETE: (ashakisha mu mifuka yose) Ibihumbi bibiri? Nta giceri na kimwe mfite!
KEZA: (afungura agasanduku, abara) Igihumbi... igihumbi na magana atanu... ibihumbi bibiri!
GATETE: (afata umutwe) Amafaranga yanjye yose yagiye he?
KEZA: (aseka buhoro) Yagiye mu nda yawe, mu mandazi!
GATETE: (ku bareba) Ubu ndabyumva. Keza, nanjye ndashaka kuzigama. Natangira nte?
KEZA: Buri munsi, shyira igiceri cy'ijana mu gasanduku.
(KEZA amuha agasanduku. GATETE ashyiramo igiceri.)
GATETE: Guhera uyu munsi, nanjye ndazigama!
BOMBI: (ku bareba) Akabando k'iminsi gacibwa kare!
(Ikinamico irarangiye.)

Key words: ngwino come here; dusangire let's share; ndazigama I am saving; umugani a proverb; mu kiruhuko at break time; banyeshuri students! (calling them); mu kwezi gutaha next month; ibihumbi bibiri two thousand; igiceri a coin; igiceri cy'ijana a 100-franc coin; agasanduku a small box; mu nda in the stomach; bombi both of them.

In English: at break time Gatete offers to share his mandazi. Keza thanks him but says she is saving, and when he asks what for, she answers with the proverb. Gatete tells the audience that Keza always has a proverb ready. Two weeks later, the teacher announces a trip to Nyungwe National Park next month; everyone must bring 2,000 francs. Gatete searches all his pockets: not a single coin. Keza opens her box and counts: one thousand, one thousand five hundred, two thousand! "Where did all my money go?" asks Gatete. "Into your stomach, as mandazi!" says Keza. Gatete asks how to start saving; Keza tells him to put a 100-franc coin in the box every day and gives him a box, and he drops in his first coin. Together they tell the audience the proverb. The end.

How a Kinyarwanda script is laid out

Umutwe (the title) at the top.
Abakinnyi (the cast list): each character's name, with a few words about who they are.
Aho bibera (the setting): where and when the action takes place.
The dialogue: the character's name in CAPITALS, a colon, then the words, with no "he said" or quotation marks: KEZA: Urakoze, Gatete.
Amabwiriza y'abakinnyi (stage directions) in brackets and italics, such as (aseka), "laughs". They are acted, never read aloud.
Each new scene is marked: Igice cya mbere (Scene one), Igice cya kabiri (Scene two).

How the plan became dialogue

The intangiriro takes only five short lines, yet the audience learns who Keza and Gatete are, where they are, and how they differ.
The proverb is spoken twice: once as Keza's answer and once by both actors at the end. Repeating the key line helps the audience remember the message.
The climax is one short line: "Nta giceri na kimwe mfite!" ("I haven't got a single coin!"). Short lines hit hardest at the moment of highest tension.
The joke "Yagiye mu nda yawe" laughs at Gatete's habit, not at Gatete himself, and states the message in a funny way.
The stage directions carry action that words cannot: Keza counting her coins shows the result of saving better than any speech.

Checklist for your own script

Is every character's name in capitals and followed by a colon?
Are the stage directions in brackets, and short enough to act?
Does every line either move the story on or show who the character is?
Are the lines short enough to learn and to say clearly?
Is the Kinyarwanda correct and suitable for a school audience? Ask your Kinyarwanda teacher to check the spelling.
Have you read it aloud with a timer, and does it fit the time you have?

Tip

Name, colon, words; actions in brackets. And one test for every line: if it neither moves the story on nor shows who the character is, cut it.

✦

Practice

Translate into English: (a) (aseka buhoro); (b) Natangira nte?; (c) mu kwezi gutaha.

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Solution: (a) (laughs softly); (b) How would I start?; (c) next month.

Find the layout mistakes and correct them: Gatete said: "Nta giceri na kimwe mfite!" he searches in his pockets.

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Solution: in a script the speaker's name is in capitals followed by a colon, with no "said" and no quotation marks, and the action goes in brackets as a stage direction. Corrected: GATETE: (ashakisha mu mifuka) Nta giceri na kimwe mfite!

Write, in script form, a line in which Mwarimu Uwase, smiling, greets the students with "good morning".

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Solution: MWARIMU UWASE: (amwenyura) Mwaramutse, banyeshuri! The plural greeting Mwaramutse is right because she is speaking to the whole class.

Which line of Akabando k'Iminsi is the climax, and why is it so short?

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Solution: "Nta giceri na kimwe mfite!", when Gatete finds his pockets empty. It is the moment of greatest tension, and a short, sharp line lands hardest there.

Remember

A script has a title (umutwe), a cast list (abakinnyi), a setting (aho bibera), dialogue and stage directions (amabwiriza y'abakinnyi).
Dialogue: NAME in capitals, a colon, then the words. Stage directions go in brackets and italics and are acted, not spoken.
Keep lines short, repeat the key line, and let actions show what words cannot.

Sources and credits

Written by Ganzaa. The sketch Akabando k'Iminsi, its key words and English summary, the layout guide and the practice are original Ganzaa material. The proverb Akabando k'iminsi gacibwa kare is a traditional Kinyarwanda saying in the public domain.

1From plan to script

Worked example: the script

2How a Kinyarwanda script is laid out

3How the plan became dialogue

4Checklist for your own script

Practice

From plan to script

How a Kinyarwanda script is laid out

How the plan became dialogue

Checklist for your own script