Team Vakumwamba

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Team Vakumwamba Going Against Gravity!

AIMING AT THE HEADS!No amateur snipers.No warning shots.No missed targets.No hesitation.One target. One stage. Zero miss...
22/09/2026

AIMING AT THE HEADS!

No amateur snipers.
No warning shots.
No missed targets.
No hesitation.
One target. One stage. Zero misses.

H2WAR is coming.



YOU THOUGHT WE WOULD FALL? šŸ˜šŸ¤£Don’t be funny exeh…..H2WAR.
21/09/2026

YOU THOUGHT WE WOULD FALL? šŸ˜šŸ¤£

Don’t be funny exeh…..

H2WAR.



AFRICA DIRECTIONS IS COMING.You heard the warning.From 20–24 October 2026, we step onto the stage at the NATAAZ National...
19/09/2026

AFRICA DIRECTIONS IS COMING.

You heard the warning.

From 20–24 October 2026, we step onto the stage at the NATAAZ National Theatre Festival with:

H2WAR: YOU THOUGHT WE’D FALL?

No noise.
No explanations.
Just H2WAR.

When the lights come up, you’ll know we’ve arrived.

FIVE YEARS ON: WE DIDN’T COME THIS FAR TO COME THIS FARSome stories begin with a grand idea. Others begin with a story t...
30/08/2026

FIVE YEARS ON: WE DIDN’T COME THIS FAR TO COME THIS FAR

Some stories begin with a grand idea. Others begin with a story told in a room.

Five years ago, We Didn’t Come This Far to Come This Far began with one.

Born from a playwriting workshop facilitated by award-winning theatre maker Mr. Eric Kasomo Jr., the play began with a story John Phiri shared about women who travelled across Zambia to order fish—and supposedly never returned home. Some believed they had been bewitched by fishermen, forgetting their families and beginning new lives elsewhere.

Fact or folklore, the story presented a fascinating theatrical question. But Clive Gilbert Nyirenda knew it needed to become something bigger. And it did.

What began with a mysterious story about fish became a theatre piece about power, ambition, politics, exploitation, patriarchy, fear and resistance. At its centre is Tiimbileazeze—a man consumed by his pursuit of power, willing to manipulate fear and sacrifice others in his pursuit of the throne.

His ambition becomes a national crisis. An innocent woman becomes a political bargaining chip. And eventually, a people begin to realise that the power they surrendered may be the very power they need to reclaim.

The play asks uncomfortable questions: How far will someone go for power?
Who pays for decisions made at the top? What happens when people become expendable? And when does fear become more dangerous than resistance?

In 2022, the production, led by John Kazembe Seba and co-directed with Clive Gilbert Nyirenda, participated in the NATAAZ National Theatre Festival. It later received Ngoma Awards nominations for Best Script and Best Actress.

But the real story is what happened after. The play lived. Different artists performed it. Different teams interpreted it. Different audiences encountered it. And five years later, its questions remain disturbingly relevant.

Power. Politics. Wealth. Resources. Exploitation. The distance between those who make decisions and those who live with their consequences. Some stories age. Others deepen. Clive says his plays are like w**e—they keep getting better with age.

Perhaps We Didn’t Come This Far to Come This Far is proof. Five years later, it is still asking. Still challenging. Still provoking. Still alive. And now, one question remains: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS STORY IS REIMAGINED? We can’t wait to find out.

Happy five years to We Didn’t Come This Far to Come This Far.



ACTORS INDABAOpen to registered participantsNancy Malubila will be joining other industry professionals as a Panelist at...
28/08/2026

ACTORS INDABA
Open to registered participants

Nancy Malubila will be joining other industry professionals as a Panelist at the Zambian Short Film Festival Actors Indaba.

šŸ“… 3rd September 2026
šŸ“ Alliance FranƧaise de Lusaka
šŸŽŸļø Registered participants only

šŸŽ­ NANCY MALUBILA

Nancy Malubila is a Zambian actress and theatre practitioner known for her work across stage and screen. She brings her experience and perspective to the conversation as the industry examines the realities, challenges and opportunities facing actors and creatives in Zambia.

šŸŽ¬ Come ready to learn, connect, ask questions and engage with the industry.

3rd September 2026
Alliance FranƧaise de Lusaka

Something is loading… šŸ‘€We’re not saying much yet.But very soon, people will begin talking.Make sure you’re not the last ...
28/08/2026

Something is loading… šŸ‘€

We’re not saying much yet.
But very soon, people will begin talking.

Make sure you’re not the last to know.

Stay close.
It’s almost time.

ACTORS INDABA(Open to registered)If you registered but haven’t received an email yet, worry not! Your submitted registra...
26/08/2026

ACTORS INDABA
(Open to registered)

If you registered but haven’t received an email yet, worry not! Your submitted registration form confirms your registration.

šŸ“… 3rd September 2026
šŸ“ Alliance FranƧaise de Lusaka
šŸŽŸļø Registered participants only

Clive G. Nyirenda

Clive G. Nyirenda is a Zambian Award wining Actor, writer and theatre practitioner known for his work in film and television. He is also recognised for his role in the popular Zambian television series Mpali, His work continues to contribute to the growth of Zambia’s creative and theatre industry.

šŸŽ¬ Come ready to learn, connect, ask questions and engage with the industry.

3rd September 2026
Alliance Francaise de Lusaka

TRIBES GONE BABEL TURNS 10 NEXT YEAR.And somehow, it feels more relevant now than when it was written.One of the most am...
26/08/2026

TRIBES GONE BABEL TURNS 10 NEXT YEAR.

And somehow, it feels more relevant now than when it was written.

One of the most ambitious contemporary Zambian plays of its generation, TRIBES GONE BABEL first stunned audiences across Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa in 2019. In 2023, it received four Ngoma Award nominations — Best Production, Best Director, Best Script and Best Actress.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about this play is that it refuses to stay in the past.

At its heart is a kingdom tearing itself apart because of tribal suspicion, misinformation, revenge and the dangerous manipulation of grief. It confronts the politics of belonging, the treatment of refugees and outsiders, the weaponisation of identity, betrayal, colonial exploitation, power, blind loyalty, masculinity, and the devastating consequences of leaders who allow emotion to replace reason.

A prince wants revenge for his parents.

A people are turned against one another.

A trusted adviser manipulates an entire kingdom.

And while they are busy destroying each other, an outsider waits to take everything.

Sound familiar?

The writer has often described Tribes Gone Babel as the play closest to his heart — perhaps even his best.

We respectfully disagree.

Because if there is one thing Clive Gilbert Nyirenda’s work has taught us, it is that the next play keeps getting bigger.

But we cannot deny this:

TRIBES GONE BABEL is like w**e. It keeps getting better with age.

Ten years later, its questions still bite. Its warnings still matter. And some of the things it imagined feel uncomfortably familiar.

So perhaps next year should not simply be a celebration of a ten-year-old play.

Perhaps it is time to bring it back.

To the stage.
To a new generation.
To new audiences.
With new eyes, new actors, new ideas — and the same fire.

PRODUCERS, THE KINGDOM IS WAITING.

Who is brave enough to bring TRIBES GONE BABEL back to life for its 10th anniversary?

How should we celebrate this?

REIMAGINED IS HEREšŸŽ­šŸ„³You may know the story.But you have never seen it like this.There are stories that stay with us. Sto...
24/08/2026

REIMAGINED IS HEREšŸŽ­šŸ„³

You may know the story.
But you have never seen it like this.

There are stories that stay with us. Stories that make us laugh, question, argue, feel, remember.

But what happens when we return to them with new eyes?

When familiar characters find new voices. When a familiar world is rebuilt. When the stage looks different. When the meaning hits differently. When the story you thought you knew suddenly becomes an entirely new experience.

That is REIMAGINED.

REIMAGINED by Clive Gilbert Nyirenda, powered by Team Vakumwamba (TVM), is bringing Clive Gilbert Nyirenda’s rich theatrical catalogue into a new era of storytelling — not simply bringing plays back, but re-seeing them, rethinking them and reimagining what they can become.

From the internationally acclaimed TRIBES GONE BABEL, a Ngoma Awards 2023 Best Script nominee, to WE DIDN’T COME THIS FAR TO COME THIS FAR, a Ngoma Awards 2022 Best Script nominee.

From THE LUMPA UPRISING: A SAINT SENT AT THE WRONG TIME, winner of Best Script at the National Theatre Awards 2024, to MOTHER OF THE YEAR, winner of Best Script at the National Theatre Awards 2025.
And many more plays yet to join this brilliant catalogue.

These are the stories. But the stories are only where we begin.

The real question is: What could they become?

New visions. New performances. New creative worlds. New experiences. New audiences. And beyond these stories, there is more to come.

For audiences, REIMAGINED is an invitation to see something you may think you know — and discover it all over again.

For producers and theatre makers, it is an invitation to step into a catalogue of stories and help create their next extraordinary life.

This isn’t about going back. It’s about seeing again.

THE STORY REMAINS. THE INTERPRETATION CHANGES.

REIMAGINED IS HERE.


Address

Lusaka

Opening Hours

Monday 08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 17:00
Thursday 08:00 - 17:00
Friday 08:00 - 17:00
Saturday 08:00 - 12:30

Telephone

+260978009876

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