Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Micere Mugo, The Trial of Dadan Kimathi. Nairobi:
HeinemannKenya, 1992
OPENING
--The play opens in a courtroom presided over by a white judge assisted by “a fat important-
looking African clerk” and guarded by “a European District Commissioner-cum police
officer” (Waitina) and two heavily armed African police officers.
--Kimathi is in the dock and in chains.
--The courtroom is overcrowded by African who are sitting on benches.
--Whites are sitting on the opposite side on more comfortable seats.
--The judge demands to know from Kimathi whether he is “guilty or not guilty” of possessing
a revolver without a licence contrary to section 89 of the penal code on the night of Sunday,
October the 21st, 1956..
--Kimathi remains silent but is defiant.
--The judge repeats the question but kimathi maintains his silence. The judge warns him that
his silence “may be construed as contempt of courts” and that he could jail him for it.
--There is murmuring among the Africans. The judge orders them to be silent in court.
--The judge repeats the charge, but again Kimathi remains silent.
--There is sudden darkness.
FIRST MOVEMENT
--There is silence.
--There is thee sound of distant drumming which increases to a “frenzied, intense climax.”
--The drumming “eases up somewhat to accommodate human voices.”
--Twilight emerges.
--Peasants are heard singing in a “firm” and “determined” manner.
--The peasants are singing in Kiswahili that they will liberate their land, education,and
factories, because they belong to them and they built them with their blood and sweat.
--A shot is heard.
--There is overwhelming silence as the drums and voices fall silent.
--Chilling screams and groans are heard. They are accompanied by “whiplashes falling on
human skins.”
1
,--There is silence, followed by a “vague” twilight on one part of the stage.
--Drums are beaten in a slow, mournful movement, accompanied by sad music.
--The “Black Man’s History” is shown on the stage in four Phases.
--In Phase 1, a rich-looking black man sells “several strong black men and a few women” to a
“white hungry-looking slave trader” in exchange for “a long, posh piece of cloth and a heap
of trinkets” as “bereaved relations and children weep.”
--In Phase 2, “a chain of exhausted slaves . . . carrying heavy burdens” are marched across
the stage and are shown rowing a boat “under heavy whipping.”
--In Phase 3, “a labour force of blacks” is shown “toiling on a plantation under the
supervision of a cruel, ruthless fellow black overseer” while a white master “inspects the
work.”
--In Phase 4, angry and defiant blacks are shown “chanting anti-imperialist slogans through
songs and thunderous shouts.”
--The crowd is shouting in Kiswahili against oppression, calling for the people to be
unchained, and saying that they will liberate their land, Africa, the factories, etc. They are
shouting against exploitation and human slaughter and calling for the gun to be rallied
around.
--They call for the creation of “a new earth.”
--They argue that the suffering they are undergoing will not prevent them from reclaiming
their farms and their independence.
--There is gun fire.
--We are told that “the drums respond with deafening, rhythmic intensity.”
--Voices are heard shouting “uhuru.”
--Definite dawn breaks.
--Figures are seen running around the stage, some in underwear.
--Two Mau Mau guerrillas armed with machine guns are retreating.
--Off stage, protests are accompanied by whiplashes.
--Waitina (the District Commissioner) enters with a hooded Gakunia.
--Gaukunia orders askari (African soldiers) to shoot down the terrorists (i.e. Mau Mau).
--The Second Soldier responds with “Ndio Afande,” but the Firs Soldier “shows no
enthusiasm.”
2
, --Waitina orders the second soldier to line up the Mau Mau two by two and take them to the
screening ground.
--He tells him that the First Soldier can guard the street and that the First Soldier should
“wake up.”
--The second soldier organizes two rows of peasants but he cannot make them “march in
step.”
--Waitina tries in vain to get them to “march properly” with their hands on their heads.
--The Second Soldier tries frantically to carry out Waitina’s orders.
--He orders the peasants to “Ngoja,” creating confusion among them.
--Waitina asks one man to bring his papers (“karatasi yako”), insisting that the man should
address him with the title “Afande.”
--The man has no papers but says he is a farmer.
--Waiting demands to know from the man if he is Kimathi’s man (“mtu ya Kimathi”).
--The man denies it, but Gakunia (“the hooded collaborator”) nods in affirmation.
-- Waitina threatens him with his gun, pushes him away roughly, calls him “a black bastard,”
and tells him tht he will “answer more questions at the screening yard.”
Page 8:
--Waitina notices a man with a red shirt carrying a basket with peers in it. He takes the
basket from him and inspects it. He demands to know the man’s profession.
--The man replies that he is a fruit seller and demonstrates how he hawks the fruits: “ I sing:
‘Oranges cheap today/’
--Waitina laughs “at the man’s antics,” snatches some fruits from the basket, throws the rest
away and orders the man to go to the screening yard. He tells him that he will sell his fruits
at Manyani.
--The man “bites his fingers” in frustration and tries to retrieve the basket, but Waitina orders
him to march on with the rest of the peasants.
--As they march, the man is “looking anxiously about him as if he had been expecting to see
someone andhis plans had been frustrated.”
--It is now daylight.
--A woman woman walks across the stage. She is 30-40 years old. She is strongly built and
has a mature but youthful face. She is wearing peasant clothes: “a kanga cloth wrapped
around her upper body—over her simple frock—and has a small kondo, a sisal basket,
3
HeinemannKenya, 1992
OPENING
--The play opens in a courtroom presided over by a white judge assisted by “a fat important-
looking African clerk” and guarded by “a European District Commissioner-cum police
officer” (Waitina) and two heavily armed African police officers.
--Kimathi is in the dock and in chains.
--The courtroom is overcrowded by African who are sitting on benches.
--Whites are sitting on the opposite side on more comfortable seats.
--The judge demands to know from Kimathi whether he is “guilty or not guilty” of possessing
a revolver without a licence contrary to section 89 of the penal code on the night of Sunday,
October the 21st, 1956..
--Kimathi remains silent but is defiant.
--The judge repeats the question but kimathi maintains his silence. The judge warns him that
his silence “may be construed as contempt of courts” and that he could jail him for it.
--There is murmuring among the Africans. The judge orders them to be silent in court.
--The judge repeats the charge, but again Kimathi remains silent.
--There is sudden darkness.
FIRST MOVEMENT
--There is silence.
--There is thee sound of distant drumming which increases to a “frenzied, intense climax.”
--The drumming “eases up somewhat to accommodate human voices.”
--Twilight emerges.
--Peasants are heard singing in a “firm” and “determined” manner.
--The peasants are singing in Kiswahili that they will liberate their land, education,and
factories, because they belong to them and they built them with their blood and sweat.
--A shot is heard.
--There is overwhelming silence as the drums and voices fall silent.
--Chilling screams and groans are heard. They are accompanied by “whiplashes falling on
human skins.”
1
,--There is silence, followed by a “vague” twilight on one part of the stage.
--Drums are beaten in a slow, mournful movement, accompanied by sad music.
--The “Black Man’s History” is shown on the stage in four Phases.
--In Phase 1, a rich-looking black man sells “several strong black men and a few women” to a
“white hungry-looking slave trader” in exchange for “a long, posh piece of cloth and a heap
of trinkets” as “bereaved relations and children weep.”
--In Phase 2, “a chain of exhausted slaves . . . carrying heavy burdens” are marched across
the stage and are shown rowing a boat “under heavy whipping.”
--In Phase 3, “a labour force of blacks” is shown “toiling on a plantation under the
supervision of a cruel, ruthless fellow black overseer” while a white master “inspects the
work.”
--In Phase 4, angry and defiant blacks are shown “chanting anti-imperialist slogans through
songs and thunderous shouts.”
--The crowd is shouting in Kiswahili against oppression, calling for the people to be
unchained, and saying that they will liberate their land, Africa, the factories, etc. They are
shouting against exploitation and human slaughter and calling for the gun to be rallied
around.
--They call for the creation of “a new earth.”
--They argue that the suffering they are undergoing will not prevent them from reclaiming
their farms and their independence.
--There is gun fire.
--We are told that “the drums respond with deafening, rhythmic intensity.”
--Voices are heard shouting “uhuru.”
--Definite dawn breaks.
--Figures are seen running around the stage, some in underwear.
--Two Mau Mau guerrillas armed with machine guns are retreating.
--Off stage, protests are accompanied by whiplashes.
--Waitina (the District Commissioner) enters with a hooded Gakunia.
--Gaukunia orders askari (African soldiers) to shoot down the terrorists (i.e. Mau Mau).
--The Second Soldier responds with “Ndio Afande,” but the Firs Soldier “shows no
enthusiasm.”
2
, --Waitina orders the second soldier to line up the Mau Mau two by two and take them to the
screening ground.
--He tells him that the First Soldier can guard the street and that the First Soldier should
“wake up.”
--The second soldier organizes two rows of peasants but he cannot make them “march in
step.”
--Waitina tries in vain to get them to “march properly” with their hands on their heads.
--The Second Soldier tries frantically to carry out Waitina’s orders.
--He orders the peasants to “Ngoja,” creating confusion among them.
--Waitina asks one man to bring his papers (“karatasi yako”), insisting that the man should
address him with the title “Afande.”
--The man has no papers but says he is a farmer.
--Waiting demands to know from the man if he is Kimathi’s man (“mtu ya Kimathi”).
--The man denies it, but Gakunia (“the hooded collaborator”) nods in affirmation.
-- Waitina threatens him with his gun, pushes him away roughly, calls him “a black bastard,”
and tells him tht he will “answer more questions at the screening yard.”
Page 8:
--Waitina notices a man with a red shirt carrying a basket with peers in it. He takes the
basket from him and inspects it. He demands to know the man’s profession.
--The man replies that he is a fruit seller and demonstrates how he hawks the fruits: “ I sing:
‘Oranges cheap today/’
--Waitina laughs “at the man’s antics,” snatches some fruits from the basket, throws the rest
away and orders the man to go to the screening yard. He tells him that he will sell his fruits
at Manyani.
--The man “bites his fingers” in frustration and tries to retrieve the basket, but Waitina orders
him to march on with the rest of the peasants.
--As they march, the man is “looking anxiously about him as if he had been expecting to see
someone andhis plans had been frustrated.”
--It is now daylight.
--A woman woman walks across the stage. She is 30-40 years old. She is strongly built and
has a mature but youthful face. She is wearing peasant clothes: “a kanga cloth wrapped
around her upper body—over her simple frock—and has a small kondo, a sisal basket,
3
