KITFest has become a beacon of theatrical excellence in Kenya and this year, they have 35 shows on offer that will all be showing in different halls at the Kenya National Theater from 1st November 2023
Check them out HERE
Meetings
Meetings is about the intertwined lives of two families whose experiences encapsulate the high stakes involved in building the country of our dreams." Prof. Yash Pal Ghai. MEETINGS follows Augustus' return to Kenya after years in exile. He is back home with a teenage son and back home to his mother, brother and a grown daughter, one he's never met. Faoulata, his daughter, is deep in her graduate research even as she and her fiancé are in talks of a wedding. Little does she know that her research subject matter and her soon to be in-laws, are all in a way connected to her father's past and eventual exit. What follows is a compelling story that intertwines themes around Kenya's political history, love, betrayal and generational traumas of both family and nation
Roses of Blood
The death of a young maiden stirs up resentment, complete madness and obsession in a family. The roots that have stayed long under the soil now blooming in form of withered branches. For this family, hope is all they have left in the hands of the terrible luck called fate. With a mad man, a killer and a dead girl, who is to save the collapse of this family and fill them with the new light for change? Watch this on 1st November from 4:30pm
State of the Ape Address
Red Peter, an Ape who was shot, captured and scientifically tamed to mimic the human action and speech presents his story to members of the Academy. A report to the academy! Red Peter looses the memory of what being an Ape feels. To fit and find a way out, he adapts to handshaking, smoking, war, spitting, scrolling, performing and drinking as such appear to be the height of "what makes up humans". A fable on human race. Watch this on 1st November from 7:00 pm
William Shakespeare's - To be or Not to Be in Pidgin
Hamlet contemplates death and suicide weighing the pain and unfairness of life about his father's death and his denial to the throne by his uncle-rendition in pidgin. Watch this on 1st November from 7:00pm
Wakiritho
Wakiritho (mono eye) the gun swinging gangster follows a determined teenager who is addicted to gambling and after pocket money and his girlfriend's school fees at the dingy non-flashy gambling den, he crosses paths with Scar who entices them to join his gang of many men in hope of gaining the money lost. Therefore, they conduct a heist in their school as Officer Abbreviation follows them closely uncovering their tracks in an effort to find both Wakiritho and Scar from the shiniest of shadows. The law is a sword. Watch this on 2nd November from 4:30pm
Battle Her fears
A township shack. Two lovers. A man, haunted by the shadow of a traumatic fire that will not stop raging in his head. A woman, led by blind faith in a child's capacity to glue the cracked pieces of a romance. The child, innocent saviour of his parents' love and trigger to his father's demons, awakens the past and its horrors. The child's every cry makes the shack smaller and brings the past into the present. Who will survive the fire? Watch this on 3rd November from 4:40pm
Woza Albert
Black South Africans are faced with an oppressive and brutal Apartheid ideology created by the white regime and they believe the only way to survive the hardships of the yoke is by waiting for the second coming of (Morena) Jesus Christ. 3rd November from 7:00pm
Psychosis 4:48
Christina's interpretation of Sarah Kane's PSYCHOSIS 4.48 (premiere was in Nov. 2021) is a performance about how systemic conventions, normative algorithms that surround us on a day-to-day basis, affect the body and mind and which traces this influence leaves behind. Christina: 'In my perception, the psychotic and depressive state in Sarah Kane's play is equivalent to our extremely hysterical, superficial and profit-oriented world. Dualistic truth-seeking is the motto and the question of WHY someone thinks this way rarely stems from a candour or vulnerability, but more often from a defence of an established opinion or bias.'4th November 4:30pm
Husband Home and Away
Faced with pressure from his marriage, Levy is caught in drama of leaving his marriage and proposing to his newly found girlfriend. If he thought the marriage pressure was bad, things only get worse as he experiences the full wrath of Murphy's Law, anything that could go wrong goes wrong. It turns into a rib shattering hilarious journey of self-salvation. 4th November 7:00pm
Story za Thuita
An inventory and experimental form of theatre that encorporates a city tour through performances in the Kenyan Capital Nairobi. Where, we walk down history lanes together, through storytelling, dance, poetry and songs in the Centra Business District (C.B.D) as we educate our audiences on Nairobi's monuments, street names, buildings and different city cultures. We educate, entertain, engage you through stories hapa 'kanairo' as a city tour and performing arts movement. We sell you an experience! 5th November from 5:00pm
Sound of Music
A tuneful, heart-warming story based on the real-life story of the Von Trapp Family singers, one of the world's best known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II. Our own student, Kabuki, plays the role of Maria, the tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey who becomes a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, and brings a new love of life and music into the home. 5th November from 1:00pm
Ujumbe
When an innocent final year student ( Rita Renja) is falsely accused of organising a school strike, punished and given a demoralising prefect demotion, she takes on rebellion to cope with the humiliation and her grades take a steady nose dive threatening her future plans until she starts receiving encouraging letters. Letters from a loving father. What she doesn't know is that her father was found guilty of fraud and was writing these letters from behind the bars, determined to be the dad he needed to be. What happens when the KCSE results are out? 5th November 4:30pm
Indian Harmony Dance
Three amazing variety performance as follows : 1. The Human Puppets 2. The Horse Spectacles (Kachchi Ghodi) & 3. Kathputli - The Traditional Rajasthani Puppets. These are the one performance you must NOT miss!! It is absolutely fantastic. 1. The Human Puppets : We paint/draw a face on our body/stomach, we tie our hands on our heads & cover our heads with a cap/cloth & our stomach is projected as the head..... now you can feel us like a perfect puppets and it may be the highlight of the show. Must Watch!! it is fabulous. our group is coming with something new and different in a brilliant way. 5th November 7:00pm
Upatanisho
Aerial silks performance on climate change and its impact on enhancing conflict, violent extremism, radicalization, and the need for peacebuilding, prevention, and peacebuilding efforts. 5th November 7:00pm
Angola Venezalanos Voyage
This a historical play examining Africa's tribulations caused by The Trans - Atlantic Slave Trade. A trade which in 400 years, saw more 15 millions Africa's were transported to the New World ie north and south Americas as chattel slaves and plantation labourers, under harsh conditions for 130 years. The Portuguese dominated the trade that build European cities and made Europe rich, while exterminating and depopulating Africa. Portuguese disorganized most existing African Kingdoms and Empires. This was before the grand entry of John Hawkins. 6th November 7:00pm
The Absurd
Reality is stranger than fiction in the Absurd by Kasigwa. 6th November 4:30pm
The time is Now
We see a community that associates itself with different income generating activities. The community lives in an appealing and conducive environment and nature, until the nature itself begins to be vandalized by various actions such as tree-felling, industrialization, which in its part plays a major role of air pollution by emitting lots of harmful gases into the environment. 6th November 4:30pm
Madaraka
In many societies and states we have been observing bad usage of leadership and offices which have led to situations of misuse of leadership and governance and cause of corruption,bad leadership,discrimination,human rights either economically or politically. In our show we are trying to show bad usage of power between leaders and servants.
We are showing how bad it gets when leaders misuse their power and how strong it gets when servants put their energy together to destroy bad leadership. Working and putting energy together is wealthier than fighting individually to destroy bad leadership. 6th November 4:00pm
Make Peace
Blink theater presents Make Peace. 7th November 1:00pm
Born of Normal Parents
A Show that defies death, pain and reason! Watch this crazy Irishman do things with a toilet seat that you never thought were possible before his amazing and unforgettable, one of a kind sword swallowing grand finale! A joyous, spontaneous and positive performance by Murray Molloy Sword swallower extraordinaire! 7th November 7:00pm
The journey at Lampeduza
Based on true events, a reflection of Lampeduza incident, as young dream seeking Africans are subjected to move from one place to another to quest for love, shelter, vocation, and peace. As they tell their story, they encounter human rights challenges. As they move south they face xenophobic attack when they turn to the north they are engulfed with war as they are running away from the war by crossing the sea they face stiff immigration laws, where are they now? No matter how far you go "home is best" but Life begins with movement without movement there is no life. 7th November 7:00pm
Hadithi Simulizi
Once upon a time lived a king in a Digo community known as Digore. He decided to visit a neighboring community. In the other place he found new cultures and behavior. After some time the king returned to his home, where he tried to implement the cultures and behavior from the other community which after sometime affected his own people. 8th November 4:00pm.
Kivuli Jangwani
A well connected businessman wants to cut down an indigenous tree in an area considered a shrine by the mapendo village residents. He wants to mine gold from an area discovered under the acacia tree,but the community members led by women stood their ground not to allow him to proceed with his plans. While he snatches away the villagers' and the god's beloved child. The women find a way to get back the child and stop the businessman from his evil policies. Heavy rain and thunderstorm strike the businessman. 8th November 4:30pm
Hibernation
Hibernation developed at the junction between machine-performance, object theater, live concert and visual poem. It refers to an in-between: the idle state of computers, the artificial coma of humans, or animals trying to survive a cold winter by doing as few as possible. Something slumbers beneath the sterile surface of things. Not alive, not dead. In limbo. Gently covered by what was left behind. O-Team traces our relationship to hygiene and infection, to care and disposal, to technology and what is left over. 8th November 7:00pm
Everything Everywhere
The story revolves around Mzee Kimanzi, an elderly retired worker, and Wanjiku, a determined young entrepreneur, as they confront the harsh realities of financial challenges. As they grapple with rising living costs, they also bear witness to the undeniable impact of climate change. Extreme weather events, droughts, and environmental degradation threaten the livelihoods of the community, leaving them seeking hope amidst uncertainty. Amidst their struggles, the play highlights the resilience and ingenuity of the community as they unite to find innovative ways to adapt to the changing world. Together, they endeavor to discover sustainable solutions for economic growth and environmental preservation, creating a beacon of hope for the future. 9th November 1:00pm
Conventional Freedom
YAM and YANK are veterans of the struggle who were pushed to the cold face after democracy. They have not given up on true political and economic freedom. They are now disguised as hawkers selling music and DVDs at the Parliament hoping to be the first to meet the Black Ancestors. 9th November 7:00pm
Drums of war
The year is 1952. The country, Kenya. A soldier taken up by the British Army to go and fight in WW2 comes home after 7 years of living in obscurity and uncertainty. He finds his wife trying to fight the trauma of having lost him yet now he's back and very much alive. He finds his daughter who doesn't know him and neither does he know her or her involvement in the struggle for independence. Each now starts to fight their own fears amid him being not fully recovered from PTSD in a country fighting for her independence. Drums of War is a story of war. The war of the mind & the heart that beats to the passionate rhythm of love, loss and hope. 9th November 7:00pm
The Voice of Sango
Romanus a fisherman struggles with up bringing of his Family due to Scarcity of Fish in Lake Victoria, Margarita His Wife,Obudho and Cliti his two Children and Community around him Faces the shift turn of events,They later realized the essence of Sango -Lake Victoria and Together Developed Climate Action Activities of Conservation The lake which is the source of their Livelihood... Let's see as the story Unfolds. 10th November 1:00pm
Mama Boi
The adventures and misadventures of Mama Boi.
10th November 4:30pm
Canti E Danze Popolari A Fragneto Monforte
Classic Neapolitan songs 10th November 7:00pm
Sleeping Beauty Ballet X Swan Lake
Origins Dance Company's exhibition of its versatility in dance showcasing the members' skills highly in classical ballet and their ability to shift to modern and contemporary movements. This Twin-Bill Production will present two of Tchaikovsky's classical compositions. First is the sleeping beauty on its original form and another one is Swan lake which is going to be modernized and Africanized. 11th November 4:30pm
Maabara Experience
Maabara Experience Simba Kapienga A musical radio essay performance inspired by The Lion King The performance is based on personal experiences and memories layered with the narrative flow of Lion King. Syokimau's Last Prophecy The presentation is a mystical musical piece combining music, poetry and narration to unravel a state of higher consciousness through a personal journey.
The Odysessys of Chizi wa Mtaa In 'The Odysessys of Chizi wa Mtaa' The crew of Captain Kang'ato have been stranded on Earth for 73 years now, they want to return to their home in Nyaleo - a mystical land believed to be Earth's twin. But the only person who knows the way back through the mycelium hyperlink is the village madman known to us as Chizi wa Mtaa. Will the unstable Chizi be able to guide the crew home? What Ngoris will the crew have to confront while living on earth? 12th Nov 4:30 PM
Big Boys of Shabale
In western Kenya right on the main Bungoma Kakamega highway lies the Shibale township: A robust town whose economy is fueled by the existence of Mumias sugar factory the de facto biggest sugar producer in east Africa.
However lives of the residents are found off guard when this factory collapses. Rather than be shackled by poverty four young men Lalo Korongo,Juma Ngangari ,Saleh Chonjo and Kevo bright have to put aside their childhood differences in order to come up with ways to survive this economic disaster. Their gains are legendary but not for long. There arises a new enmity fueled by money, success and quest for ultimate power. 12th 4:30 PM
About The Author
From The Past
Fri. 1st Nov, 2019 at 12:03PM
Showmax, Maisha Magic East Titles Dominate Kalasha Awards 2019
Wed. 7th Oct, 2020 at 5:30PM
Throwback Thursday: 5 Raunchy Kenyan Songs From Back in The Day
Mon. 25th June, 2018 at 2:53PM
