John Jones: The Unsung hero of Uganda’s theatre

All the while, John Jones is thinking on his feet. He improvises to remain in character. He connects with dialogue in such a brilliant way that part of the audience assumes this was all part of the script.

This is the account of his daughter, Molly Nabandeke, who saw her father’s performance during his heyday. Mwaana weyale was his famous theatre play that he showcased around the country. John Jones was an entertainer who juggled comedy. In fact John Ssegawa, a theatre director, likens John Jones to English comedy actor Rowan Atkinson, alias Mr Bean.

“You would just look at him and start laughing,” Ssegawa says of his namesake, adding, “He was always in character and, here in Uganda, only Kato Lubwama would match his artistry talent.”
He adds that John Jones’s contribution to the arts industry was fundamental in nurturing theatre audiences in schools and communities. This is simply because he took art to the people, especially the young ones.

Ssegawa notes that the theatre industry needs faces and names that relate with the people so as to create and maintain an audience. John Jones, he adds, was one of them.

Artiste and lecturer Philip Luswata says John Jones is a name that has been mentioned for years. And rightly so. Luswata joins the legion of people who acknowledge John Jones’s unwavering contribution to Uganda’s theatre industry.

“I did not see him, but I often heard people talking about him, especially those who attended St Mary’s Kisubi,” Luswata told Saturday Monitor, adding, “Amazing is all they say about him.”
He notes that the story of John Jones is important to Uganda’s theatre because it inspires a new generation to art.

“Our past helps us understand how events in the past made things the way they are today. John Jones can inspire a generation of creatives,” he explains.

Multifaceted creative
Artiste and dance choreographer Julius Lugaya explains that John Jones was an entertainer who would always bring his “A” game to theatrical productions.

“I saw him as a boy when I was studying at Mwiri [College in Jinja City]. He was an actor who would capture everyone’s mind,” Lugaya recalls, adding, “John Jones’ day was always special and everything would come to a standstill.”

Lugaya adds that John Jones was a multifaceted creative who acted in both comedy and theatre. He reveals that in schools, John Jones thrived on pulling off magic tricks that made him the darling of children.

“He would make sweets, handkerchiefs, eggs, walk on wires, among many other things. Literally, it wasn’t magic at all,” he recalls, adding of John Jones, “He was a brilliant actor who could make you believe and get immersed into his story.”

Musician Diplock Ssegawa recalls John Jones’ routine performance in Masaka schools where he earned the name John Omufuusa. The name translates to John the Magician.

Much like Lugaya, Ssegawa says John Jones’s presence at any school would make a statement. Some children would ask their parents to take them to schools where John Jones had appeared the previous term.

“He was a big name in schools and that was his major audience. He was not that popular in theatres, but still whoever noticed that he would act somewhere would be swayed to go and see him,” Ssegawa told Monitor.

Humble beginnings
Zalwango told Monitor that John Jones used to have country and regional tours in schools. She further revealed that her father could sometimes spend months without returning home. His celebrity stature contrasted starkly with his humble beginnings. He started out in street theatre where he presented his works in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. 

“He told us they would act and those who wished would tip them,” she disclosed, adding that “he later turned his passion into a job.”

Artiste Jack Sserunkuuma Kinobe explains that John Jones rose to fame in the 1970s under the Performers Association that had its base at YMCA in Wandegeya.

He describes John Jones as the godfather of children theatre, adding that the actor performed in every school that understood Luganda around the country.

Kinobe says his first encounter with John Jones was at Naminya Church of Uganda Primary School in Njeru Municipality where he was a regular performer between 1974 and 1979.

“He was different. This is a man who would enter the school singing as he came to notify the school that he would perform at a particular date,” he notes.

Kinobe, who says that he was inspired into theatre by John Jones, adds that plays such as We Three and For the Sake of Money were loved by children across all schools.

“We Three was about three thieves who did not know how to speak English and someone had lied to them that whenever they get apprehended, they should respond that, ‘we three’,” he reveals, further recalling a scene in the production where a thief faked death and he was beaten to regain consciousness. 

It was, Kinobe notes, amazing. As indeed was a cast that included Ringo Star, Young Baker and others. 

“They would put on a hideous face with comic expression and everyone would start smiling,” he says of the stellar cast.

Different man at home
Zalwango says John Jones was a different man at home. He was, she further divulges, serious about conduct of his own children and those entrusted to his care. She, nevertheless, remembers him as a loving parent who cared about his wife and the children. 

“Whenever he noticed that he would spend a long time without returning home, he would leave enough money and also stock home necessities,” she explains.

She adds that whenever he returned from performances, he would ask his wife not to do any domestic work since he felt she did so much in his absence. 

“He could wash, iron, cook and clean,” she adds.

His children say once in a while, he would crack a few jokes, but he never impressed his job upon them. But, as Zalwango admits, such is the talent of all her siblings that they engaged in art during their time in school.

A sad ending
Zalwango says at one time when John Jones was from acting at a school, he was trailed by thieves, who severely beat him up and stole his money.

“He was badly beaten and left half dead at the roadside. Good Samaritans carried him to hospital, but he was permanently disabled,” she adds.

The unfortunate incident kept him in and out of hospital until when he died on March 23, 1997. He was buried in Masaka Botera-Bweluga on Kalisizo Road.

Zalwango recalls that the night he died, he spent the day a happy man while interacting with his children. 

“At night, he sang for us a local lullaby: abawala pawuda, pawuda, abalenzi nvuza, nvuza [girls are powder, powder, boys are jiggers, jiggers]. Then he went outside for a short call. Upon returning, he collapsed and died instantly,” she remembers.

He left behind five children; Grace Nakalanda, Ritah Nakalema, Molly Nabandeke, David Kalanda, Victoria Zalwango. 

Devastated by the death of his son, John Jones’s father died months later in 1997. John Jones’s mother also died shortly after her husband breathed her last. 

His wife—Barbara Nalubiri Kalema—lived longer before dying on April 23, 2015.