As the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence nears, award-winning producer Gathoni Kimuyu is staging a play, Free Me, one that speaks on her real-life experience of gender-based violence (GBV).
Kimuyu felt that many GBV events are corporate-centred and don’t focus on victims, so she wanted this play to be their voice.
Going on stage on November 28-30 at Shah Jain Bhavan in Loresho, Nairobi, the play revolves around five actors who portray a different version of Kimuyu across her life.
From the hopeful 16-year-old who dreams of getting married to the 25-year-old in an abusive marriage, and as a 31-year-old woman rebuilding her life. This piece, written by playwrights Mercy Mutisya and Saumu Kombo, lays bare the ordeal of someone confined in a violent marriage.
The narrative of the play is anchored in a 2018 blog article by writer Magunga Williams titled Unusual Units: Queen Gathoni, which documented Kimuyu’s story in three parts.
It grew into a research material for the playwrights, who frequently went back to her for clarification as they built the script. As the producer and the subject of the story, Kimuyu was very involved, but she would also occasionally step back when she felt consumed by emotions.
“There were times I would read a scene and ask myself why I didn’t leave the first time he hit me. Or why I left and went back the same day. It was a lot of recollecting and wishing things had been different, but also accepting the reality. I left, and I left alive,” she says.
Award-winning director Mugambi Nthiga delicately approaches the play without depicting raw violence since he doesn’t want to inflict emotional pain on victims and survivors who may be in the auditorium. He intended to have them feel seen and have a sense of freedom. As heavy as the theme of the play is, Free Me also shows resilience.
“Me being alive is part of the empowerment. Walking away is winning, and the next step is learning to love yourself and starting to heal. It is a happily ever after type of story,” she says.
Theatre as activism
Through her company, Taji & Co. Productions, Kimuyu sees the play as theatre activism. Telling this story on stage was her way to continue the fight for better treatment of victims and survivors. She also hopes to confront the issue of victim-blaming, a story she knows too well.
“The first person I told thought I was lying. Then they asked what I did to deserve it. No one deserves violence. But even media narratives around femicide and GBV focus on what the woman did, where she went, and who she talked to,” she says.
She believes changing the narrative starts with centering survivors and not the perpetrator’s motives. Free Me acknowledges that GBV exists in everyday lives, even when unseen, and encourages people to believe victims and to challenge communities.
Kimuyu has faced the challenge of ticket sales. With the play only a few days away, she anticipates filling as many seats as possible. Yet the project has also attracted support from organisations that work with GBV survivors and artists.
Actor Ellah Maina plays the 25-year-old version of Kimuyu, a time when she went through GBV. Though Ellah has never experienced it, she witnessed its effect on people close to her.
“Seeing what it does to them and how it affects them, as an actor and someone empathetic, it is a burden that I carry. It is the same thing I show in this play,” she says.
Preparing for the role is an ongoing process, which includes breathwork guided by Nthiga before every rehearsal to ground themselves before exploring this heavy-themed play.
What reinforces her performance, she says, is the fact that this is a real-life story about her friend.
Having spent time with Kimuyu and her daughter, Ellah feels she has gained in-depth insights into her experience.
“She is strong and brave for sharing this, and I am happy about the person she has turned out to be despite this. Now I feel empathy toward any human being who has experienced any form of violence,” she says.
Ellah hopes her character affirms victims and survivors that they aren’t alone and advocates for an end to GBV.
Kimuyu would like the play to remind them that the shame around GBV is not theirs to carry.