The fight for justice in Kenya’s narrative
Kenya’s youth are turning to theater, music, and film as tools of resistance against political injustices and systemic failures.
THEATER
Forms of woundedness
The intergenerational traumas of an anti-Black world in August Wilson's Fences are only too familiar to South Africans.
Flowers for Jimi Solanke
Jimi Solanke, now 80, was one of the key shapers of Nigerian theater and television in the second half of the last century. He is finally getting his due.
A hopeful song about Sierra Leone
A new film, "Sing Freetown" (director: Clive Patterson) and accompanying theater project from Sorious Samura and Charlie Haffner attempt, with varying success, to sing a different song of Freetown.
Out of the pigeonholes
A Nigerian play and its leading man confront western misrepresentations.
A very American story
The long and wondrous life of Hassan Ouakrim, the "Cultural Ambassador" of the Maghreb to the United States.
Soul Brother Krishna
Ishmael Reed explores the future of race in America in new work, focusing in on black-South Asian solidarities.
Congo as Poverty Porn
What can we do for 'the worst place in the world'? Surely this play in London, is not the thing.
Who is Dulcie September?
The author stars as the famed South African activist in a new play. Dulcie September was murdered by a conspiracy of South African and French death squads.
The Spear of the People
The KwaZulu-Natal Midlands has a bit of a reputation as a “sleepy hollow.” But it was a crucial node in the struggle against apartheid.
Niçoise with sweet potatoes
Differences can be harmonious and allow people to come together despite their background and roots.
Brett Bailey, The Barbican and Black Britons
If "Exhibit B" truly offered the profound critique of slavery and colonialism its creators claimed, why the outrage? Why object to confronting silenced, gazing human “tableaux”?
Buckingham Palace
District Six was the start of a really vibrant, none racial South African and that’s why it had to die.
Political Theater
Robert Mugabe and how how quickly style and showmanship can sweep away an audience, even when the underlying message promotes violence and jingoistic triumphalism.
To be an artist in Egypt right now
An Egyptian theater company puts on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables in colloquial Arabic. The choice was no error.
Controversy and the National Arts Theatre in Lagos
The theater, built by the military and finished in time for FESTAC in 1977, has always been a site of public disagreement.
Restaging the Death of Patrice Lumumba
The merits of restaging 'Une Saison au Congo,' Aimé Césaire's history of the life and death of Patrice Lumumba, in London, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Madonna vs President Joyce Banda
Madonna's attempt to save face after her scolding by Malawi's president to rehash the stereotype of the corrupt African leader rings hollow, and a bit desperate. Malawi's President wasn't having it.
Africa’s supposed red earth
The Stadsschouwburg of Amsterdam, an iconic theater in the city, organizes a festival on the continent that consists mostly of the work of white artists.