Voices
Wangari Hinga
Wangari Hinga and her family were forcibly displaced from their land and came to Kamĩrĩĩthũ in 1960. There she met Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and his wife. What inspired her to join the theatre was the experience of being a slave to the white man. She does not see a bright future for young people in Kenya today because things have not fundamentally changed since they performed the play.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 17 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
David Njaramba Kaguura
David Njaramba Kaguura was born in colonial detention in 1952 and worked as a van driver for the Bata shoe factory. He joined the Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre playing the role of Gĩcaamba, the passionate and articulate advocate of Marxist class struggle. Even though his absorbing involvement in the theatre eventually cost him his marriage, he cherishes it as a tool of empowerment up until today.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 9 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Lucy Wangui Ng’ang’a
Born in 1948, Lucy Wangui Ng’ang’a and her family became landless as a result of British colonialism. She joined Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre to play the role of Njoki, one of the main characters whose line “I will marry when I want” became the title to the play. The experience of the theatre taught her that true independence from colonialism should also entail the liberation of women.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 16 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Geoffrey Mbothu Wachira
Geoffrey Mbothu Wachira’s grandfather served as a home guard for the British colonial regime. He was not fully aware of how the British divided Kenyans into enemies and loyalists until he joined Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre. He played the role of Kioi, the wealthy and greedy businessman who professes Christianity but betrays his own people. He believes theatre could be brought back to Kamĩrĩĩthũ to make people more aware of the power and inequality that shape their living conditions.
Place: Limuru
Date: 13 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Margaret Wairimu Ngũgĩ
The mother of Margaret Wairimu Ngũgĩ joined the literacy classes offered by Ngũgĩ wa Mirii in Kamĩrĩĩthũ. She remembers how proud her mother was to be able to write her name. She married Ngũgĩ wa Mirii and attended the theatre rehearsals and performances. When the government repressed the activities for the second time in 1982, they fled to Zimbabwe. Here, they established a powerful tradition of community theatre with the support of the Mugabe government.
Place: Nairobi National Theatre
Date: 30 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Joseph Mwangi Kariuki
Born in 1952, Joseph Mwangi Kariuki had to leave school at a young age because his parents could not afford school fees. He has never been in formal employment, but has worked all his life. He joined the theatre as a musician and wrote six songs. The theatre has been the best experience of his life.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 9 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
James Githiga Muaura
James Githiga Muaura’s father worked in the Bata shoe factory in nearby Limuru and his mother in a nearby plantation. He started working at the factory in 1968 and was still working there when he joined Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre in 1977. He experienced the toxic effects of chemical processes and exploitative working conditions, which became central themes in the play.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 10 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Maria Njeri Waweru
Maria Njeri Waweru’s father served as a doctor in a mission hospital. She remembers her childhood as peaceful and liked helping on the family farm. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o asked her to join the theatre, and she played the role of Wangeci, a girl from a poor family. She believes the play taught people to stand up for their rights and demand better wages and living conditions.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 4 May 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
George Kabonyi
George Kabonyi’s father was detained by the British colonizers during the war. His mother died in a forced resettlement camp while she was pregnant. He joined the theatre in 1977, playing the revolutionary leader Dedan Kimathi. He is convinced that if theatre would be integrated into the school system, class inequalities would not be so problematic today.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 11 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Salome Njeri Njane
Born in 1959, Salome Njeri Njane grew up in a “shauri yako” or squatter’s settlement. She remembers the hardships which her family endured during her childhood. The theatre helped bring people together, she says, and it felt like the making of a new family. She does not think the open-air theatre needs to be rebuilt, but believes the play could have an important role today by showing women how to stand up in society.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 4 May 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Sam Mbure
Sam Mbure is a poet, and served as the press officer of Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre. His father was a freedom fighter, and some of his strongest childhood memories are about singing songs about Kenyan independence. By the time he finished primary school he had written over 50 poems. A close friend Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, his house was searched by the police when the theatre was suppressed. He almost stopped writing entirely because he feared more government violence.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 29 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Raphael Karanja Mwaniki
Born in 1944, Raphael Karanja Mwaniki lived through the “Emergency,” the brutal years of British imperial violence against Kikyuyu communities. As his family was forcibly moved to Kamĩrĩĩthũ, he remembers his mother building their home from maize stalks and mud, like the other women in the camp. He worked in the Bata shoe company and joined the theatre playing the role of Ndugire, a local priest. This experience made him a better person, he says.
Place: Kamĩrĩĩthũ
Date: 4 May 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Moses Njiriri Mburu
Moses Njiriri Mburu was held as a political prisoner for six years following the 1982 failed attempt to overthrow President Daniel arap Moi's government. He joined the Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre company in 1994. Even though the theatre was revived during this time as an officially permitted commercial endeavor, its revolutionary message continued to attract police suspicion.
Place: Limuru
Date: 13 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Clement Warorua Kimani
Clement Warorua Kimani represents a Kikuyu clan whose ancestors inhabited the land around Kamĩrĩĩthũ before colonial dispossession. He explains how the colonial naming of places was meant to change the history of the land. His family was forcibly moved into the Kamiriithu concentration village. In Ngahika Ndeenda, he played Ndugĩre, the born-again Christian. He regrets that the government has not returned the land to the community, and wishes to have a community space to celebrate traditional culture.
Place: Limuru
Date: 3 May 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
David Mbugua Kinyanjui
David Mbugua Kinyanjui was born in the Kamĩrĩĩthũ concentration village in 1956. Even though his family had little money to pay for his own education, he managed to become an adult literacy teacher, teaching alongside Ngũgĩ wa Mirii. He speaks about how his classes empowered the women in the village, and how he came to join the theatre in his role of collecting entrance fees.
Place: Limuru
Date: 1 May 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Sultan Somjee
Sultan Somjee was born in the Nairobi neighbourhood of Eastleigh during World War II. After studying design and ethnography, he joined the University of Nairobi, where he met Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. He speaks about Africanization during the 1960s and what it meant to be Kenyan of Indian descent in the process of decolonization. He designed the costumes for the play and co-designed the theatre together with craftspeople from the village. In his subsequent work, he has continued to center the knowledge of peasants and workers.
Place: Limuru
Date: 20 October 2023
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Esther Kute
Esther Kute is an industrial designer. She grew up in a middle class family in western Kenya and joined the Bata Shoe Company in 2010. In 2016, she became the youngest senior manager in charge of design of the company and the first woman and Black person to run the company’s product development. She speaks about her experience at Bata, decolonization, and her aspirations for African design.
Place: Limuru
Date: 15 April 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
Grace Wambui Mwangi
Grace Wambui Mwangi was born in 1999 from a Limuru family of tea plantation workers. She speaks about her memories of the town, how she got to know the history of Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre, and what this history means to her as a student of literature at Nairobi university. Ngũgĩ’s writings made her see Limuru’s environment in new ways and made her realize the importance of history and literature in society.
Place: Limuru
Date: 11 May 2022
Interviewed by Makau Kitata and Kenny Cupers
︎︎
Together with filmmaker Gitonga Mwangi, Kenny Cupers and Makau Kitata have conducted over two dozen life story interviews with the original actors, their families, and other stakeholders in the community. Their voices (listed below) give a sense of people’s relationship to the land, their histories of migration, and their experiences of injustice. They convey why people joined the theatre, how it became so empowering and successful, what happened after the theatre was banned and demolished, and how they imagine a just future.
With these voices and visual materials, including original photographs that have never been published before, this website is an open-access archive. This archive aims to make the voices of the actors and community public and preserve the memories of Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre for future generations.
Voices from Kamĩrĩĩthũ theatre:
Maria Njeri Waweru, Salome Njeri Njane, David Njaramba Kaguura, James Githiga Muaura, Joseph Mwangi Kariuki, Geoffrey Mbothu Wachira, Moses Njiriri Mburu, Wangari Hinga, Lucy Wangui Ng'ang’a, Margaret Wairimu Ngũgĩ (wa Mirii), Raphael Karanja Mwaniki, Sam Mbure, George Kabonyi
Voices from the community and other interlocutors:
Alice Muthoni Karuma, Clement Warorua Kimani, David Mbugua Kinyanjui, Elizabeth Muthoni, Grace Mwangi, John Ngugi Njenga, Margaret Njeri Choru, Peter Gathii Kimani, Peter Ndungu Nganga, Serah Wangari Karanja, Esther Kute, Suki K.K. Mwendwa