By Marvis Osweri A Man Like You poses that oft unanswerable question, where is the line drawn between humanitarianism and terrorism? Set in the aftermath of the WestGate Mall bombings in Nairobi, the play explores extremism through the viewpoints of Patrick North, a UK diplomat taken hostage and his kidnapper Abdi. Despite his life being […] Read More

By Marvis Osweri  The Woman Who Would Be King opens with a darkened stage as a disembodied voice speaks. It’s Hatshepsut, narrating her life, her story. The lights come on and a beautifully made up Esosa – bold kohl brows, shimmering gold shadow and her long sister locks exquisitely transformed into the quintessential Egyptian braided bob […] Read More

By Marvis Osweri In La Négrophilie, Zakiya Markland takes us through Josephine Baker’s early years of never quite fitting in here or there due to her skin colour; light enough to get sunburn and draw envy from her darker-skinned mother…but not too light to be accepted by the New York theatre world power brokers. You […] Read More

By Marvis Osweri The State is one of those plays where you don’t know what to expect. Literally. Even the writer Alexander Manuiloff has no clue how the performance will unfold. See, unlike traditional plays with a cast of actors and a director, the plot device in The State is simply the text. That and the unsuspecting, […] Read More

By Roland Byagaba Mr Murray Molloy is funny in that crude way only the Irish can pull off. And while we are on his Irish heritage, you should have heard the collective noises of understanding from the audience when he revealed that piece of information about himself. I know how increasingly common the argument for us […] Read More

By Joel Benjamin Ntwatwa When I saw the Kampala International Theatre Festival Catalogue for this year, there was a story I was sure I didn’t want to miss, mostly because of who wrote and worked on it and knowing a little of their journey. Lloyd Lutara is a Ugandan storyteller, with works in film and […] Read More

By Roland Byagaba This production covers a lot. I know of Chairman Mao, but that’s as far as it goes…his name. I thought of reading up on him before watching this but time wasn’t sufficient as his Wikipedia page is like a 30-minute read. I still haven’t dug into it as I write this but […] Read More

By Joel Benjamin Ntwatwa Children are easy to please…at least I believe so but it takes the heart of a child to get them there. Inasmuch as theatre is very much part of children’s lives, we relegate it to other forms – animations, movies etc. Yet theatre is very much a form of art that […] Read More

By Joel Benjamin Ntwatwa I studied Francis Imbuga’s “Betrayal in the City” while in school. It remains very much a favourite. And here we were on a hot afternoon in a not so high rise with some sirens sounding every now and then being introduced to an adaptation of it by Angella Emurwon in a […] Read More

By Joel Benjamin Ntwatwa “Being rich in culture is better than being rich in resources”. A bubbly young Christopher D Betts in a deep grey t-shirt and blue jeans says to me while pressed in a sea of children who are fresh from experiencing The Prince and the Rose. I am really trying to get […] Read More

By Joel Benjamin Ntwatwa The 4th edition of the Kampala International Theatre Festival kicked off yesterday. Overlooking Kampala atop The Square Place, Deborah Asiimwe Kaawe gave opening remarks as guests enjoyed the meats and drinks the opening cocktail provided. A great deal can happen in 4 years. The creative collaboration between The Sundance Institute and […] Read More