Nyuka Onge Kwero (Pok Imetho?), a Luo comedy play by Abila Production, addresses love triangles. Staged at the Nairobi Cinema on Valentine’s Day, the play begins with Nyakablack (played by Linet Omuya), a wife who is obsessed with TikTok.
Her fixation strains her relationship with her husband, Kasuku (played by Alvins Kasuku), on Valentine’s Day when they have no plans.
Matters spiral out of control when the husband’s ex suggests a rendezvous at a Mombasa hotel, and a call from the hotel manager leads the wife to think that Kasuku is planning a surprise for her.
Scripted by Joan Arigi and Alvins Kasuku and directed by Peter Onjiri, this is one of the comedy plays that were showing this past weekend.
Kasuku joined the theatre in 2009 before enrolling at Kenyatta University, where friends encouraged him to perform set books.
He moved through groups including Theatrics, Jicho 4 Productions, and Culture Spills Production, performing Luo stage plays associated with Jalang’o, as well as productions by Heartstrings Entertainment by Sammy Mwangi and Festival of Creative Arts by Mbeki Mwalimu and Eliud Nyabuto.
At the Kenya National Theatre (KNT), he recalls, audiences once had more than ten groups to choose from each weekend. Today, only a handful of major productions, such as Crony, Mkisii ni Mkisii Production and Heartstrings, dominate the scene, while others closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Hiring performance halls and marketing shows requires capital. Without a producer, it is not easy to sustain productions. Many actors juggle television roles and commercial work to earn sustainably,” he says.
He says comedy plays are produced in various ways, like translating English scripts into Luo, crafting original stories like Nyuka Onge Kwero (Pok Imetho?), or workshopping scenes during rehearsals so actors help write the script organically.
Cross-cultural direction, including directors such as Tash Mitambo working on different vernacular productions outside of their ethnicities, also adds a fresh perspective.
Actor, director and scriptwriter Timothy Ndisi believes comedy theatre is expanding. A few years ago, he says, many people did not fully appreciate the art form, but the industry is now opening up and attracting a new crop of performers.
“Spontaneity is part of comedy, and not every actor is comfortable with improvisation. Some productions operate without fully developed scripts, relying instead on rehearsals and the performers’ instincts,” he says.
He adds that this spontaneity is what keeps the shows interesting because the audience does not know what to expect. Without a script, the question of length also surfaces, with some audiences feeling that comedy plays stretch too long, to which Ndisi disagrees.
“There are people who complain that a two-hour play is too long, while others say that it is short. If it is long and interesting, then there is no harm,” he says.
Typecasting and recurring character archetypes are also common in some comedy shows, something that Ndisi says works as long as the character does not have the same lines.
“Producers prefer familiar actors who can deliver certain roles because of financial constraints, and this decision is owed to the successes of previous shows,” he says.
He says audiences are becoming more discerning and expect value for their money, and what they seek is laughter.
Vernacular comedy continues to draw strong crowds, with productions such as Naku Amba Eka having staged successful runs in Nairobi and Machakos. According to Ndisi, the creative process between English and vernacular plays is similar.
Director Lawrence Murage of Ndunyu Njeru Creatives says audiences want to hear stories in their mother tongue.
Having directed vernacular plays for nearly a decade under groups including Fanaka Arts, Johari Productions and Igenya Arts, and later founding Kwa Ndego Productions, Murage sees vernacular theatre as offering entertainment and preserving culture.
Kikuyu productions, he explains, run longer because of the oral storytelling tradition, and shortening such plays risks audience dissatisfaction.
However, Murage says, vernacular comedy plays borrow heavily from British farce and slapstick that don’t fully reflect local experiences.
Lewis Kavoi Xavier, Head of Visual and Performing Arts at Woodcreek School and chair of the Kenya Theatre Awards jury, says comedy plays, once confined to clubs and restaurants, are increasingly staged in formal theatre settings.
“A script alone does not guarantee success. Technical precision like lighting, sound cues, set design and disciplined improvisation are important, and thespians can avoid overextending a successful joke,” he says.
Xavier envisions a future driven by stronger writing and more character-led narratives rather than personality-driven performances by stand-up comedians.
He advocates for integrating comedy more deliberately into the education system, where students can experiment without commercial pressure. Schools, he says, are safe spaces for nurturing playwrights and refining comedic craft.
“Most productions depend on comedians to act in comedy plays, but it does not have to be that way. We are also moving towards incorporating different forms of comedy into the play and moving the scene to full-scale productions, for instance, what Crony Productions are doing,” he says.