Ketu Katrak offers a personal record of a major production of The Trial of Dedan Kĩmathi at the University of California, Irvine. She describes the process of creating the production, the contribution of Prof. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (UCI) and Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo, to the experience, and the response of student actors and the audience. This is a graphic description of a rare production of one of the major works of modern African theatre. (Eds)
The stage was on fire as the British askaris stoically defended the British colonial policy of dehumanizing and subjugating the African, and the African, led by the brave Kĩmathi, courageously fought back against the colonial evil. At the centre of this heated battle is the question of man’s liberty, freedom and independence. Such are universal principles that man holds dear anywhere in the world.
Although the drama is based on the Kenyans’ struggle against British colonialism in the fifties by distinguished Prof. Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o (UCI) and Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo, this is a universal narrative that the UCI drama students staged with impeccable precision and dedication.
As a Kenyan whose family was directly and adversely affected by the struggle, I was personally and deeply moved by the entire play that often ceases to be a play on stage and becomes in my mind, the actual pain and struggle that my family members had to endure. I know now that sometimes one has to fight for what is already his.
Njoroge Njau
Incarceration, control of bodies, military and police power during British colonialism in Kenya pervade the script and the highly successful production, the United States premiere of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo’s coauthored play, The Trial of Dedan Kĩmathi (8-16 March 2014) at the University of California, Irvine. Ngũgĩ is our treasured colleague, Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine and by undertaking this production we honour him as a playwright. He was most gracious in participating in the entire process of the production from assisting student-actors during the table work, to regaling us with stories from his personal experience of living through Kenya’s difficult history, to imbuing us with his optimistic spirit of resistance expressed via Kiswahili and Gĩkũyũ freedom songs.