The Playwrights Database
NGUGI WA THIONG'O
(1938 - )Nationality: Kenyan (BAME)
email: n/a Website: n/a
Literary Agent: n/a
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, born 5 January 1938), is a Kenyan writer, formerly working in English and now working in Gikuyu. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mutiiri. In 1977, Ngugi embarked upon a novel form of Theatre in his native Kenya that sought to liberate the theatrical process from what he held to be "the general bourgeois education system", by encouraging spontaneity and audience participation in the performances. His project sought to "demystify" the theatrical process, and to avoid the "process of alienation [that] produces a gallery of active stars and an undifferentiated mass of grateful admirers" which, according to Ngugi, encourages passivity in "ordinary people". Although Ngaahika Ndeenda was a commercial success, it was shut down by the authoritarian Kenyan regime six weeks after its opening. Ngugi was subsequently imprisoned for over a year. Adopted as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, the artist was released from prison, and fled Kenya. In the United States, he taught at Yale University for some years, and has since also taught at New York University, with a dual professorship in Comparative Literature and Performance Studies, and the University of California, Irvine. Ngugi has frequently been regarded as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His son is the author Mukoma wa Ngugi. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Buy Plays with Doollee
Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.AbeBooks.co.uk AbeBooks.com Stageplays.com amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template
below is a list of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Trial Of Dedan Kimathi, TheTrial Of Dedan Kimathi, The
Synopsis:
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is set during 1952-60, the last phase of British colonial rule in Kenya. Kimathi, leader of the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau) is shown in the final confrontation with his British Captors before his execution in 1957. Written by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Micere Githae Mugo The Trial of Dedan Kimathi was first performed in Kenya,with subsequent productions in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Africa Centre, London
15 Oct 1984
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 18 Female: 8 Other: 2c
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page