25/05/2021
SILENT VOICES UGANDA AND GILB'ART PRODUCTIONS KENYA BRINGS YOU THE MUSICAL THEATRE NOT TO MISS!!!
“And All Roads Lead to Nairobi
And All Dreams Lead to Nairobi”
As these lyrics from one of the tunes in Subira, says, from Sundance Theatre Lab’s 2021 Pioneer Interdisciplinary Project Lab where Subira made it alongside 5 other powerful projects as is known of the calibre of work Sundance Theatre Lab selects, Subira moves Straight to Production in Nairobi!
And if the strong reaction to Subira at Sundance Theatre Lab, including one by a participant who couldn’t help but scream, “F**K YES THOSE VELVETTY HARMONIES!” is anything to go by, you don’t want to miss this show!!
AND yes, this year our Theatre Directors Apprenticeship Program happens in Nairobi with our atypical heart-wrenching-thought-provoking first musical theatre production.
Subira is based on the 1982 Kenyan Coup D’etat! A coup that saw a new president for 6 hours before power reverted to President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi!!
SYNOPSIS:
22-Year-Old Lukalia only ever had two dreams - to join the Kenyan National Army and be at the forefront of nationalizing the nation and marry his village girl sweetheart - Subira. And he was well on track for both until he finds himself caught up in the middle of the events of the 1982 Kenyan coup d'etat not only fighting for his freedom, but on the verge of losing both dreams.
Ugandan Theatre Lovers, we hope your road leads you to Nairobi to catch the show!!
INTERESTED IN HOW ALL THIS STARTED?
In 2010, Adong Judith and Lukalia Gilbert met for the first time at Sundance Theatre Lab on Manda Island while she was working on her first play, Silent Voices. Gilbert was working as director on a Tanzanian adaptation of Ken Saro Wiva’s Africa Kills Her Sun and ended up also being cast in Adong’s Silent Voices alongside Kenya’s gems, Melvin Alusa and Lillian Amimo. Gilbert played the hell out of the role of the Mediator in Adong’s Silent Voices. A performance that moved Adong to have that kind of acting powerhouse in her play again casting him in her 2017 production, Just Me, You and THE SILENCE. Yet again, Gilbert played the hell out of the role of Jacob Obina. To quote a Ugandan audience member 2 years after the show, “I still think about Jacob Obina!” This is how powerful Gilbert’s representation of the character was! A representation that took Jacob Obina from a character on a play book page making him so real that this audience member still thought about him 2 years later!! And probably still thinks of him to-date!
It was here as two great East African artists worked together that Gilbert shared the idea of a musical theatre based on the 1982 Kenyan Coup with Adong.
“How powerful would it be if the story was told using Sauti Sol’s first best selling music album that comes with all that dreamy nostalgic vibe that is the soul of the 80s!” Gilbert dreamed.
That same year, Adong turned that dream into reality with the first draft of the musical using Sauti Sol’s Mwanzo Album.
Sadly, due to administrative challenges around using the album, Adong and Gilbert were forced to drop this concept and consider original compositions.
AND this is where Uganda’s music gem, Kaz Kasozi comes in! Together Adong and Kaz Kasozi have composed 44 pieces of tunes, small and big that take you on an unforgettable journey as together with the protagonist of the story, Lukalia, we navigate the worlds of his two dreams, bringing to live a forgotten coup whose impact on Kenya’s politics however cannot be forgettable.
