Every year since 2018, I sit down towards the end of the year, fire up my laptop, and make a list like this, spanning film, TV, and theatre. I usually only share it with the homies who hover around my WhatsApp and Instagram stories, looking for a holiday watchlist.
As in 2025 and the years before, theatre continues to reap much success in Kenya, way ahead of film and TV, which remain encumbered by storytelling challenges and a less-than-enthusiastic audience reception. From one stage to the next, performances reverberated with nuance and intention, proving once again why theatre is such a powerful artistic force. There was Francis Ouma in his emotionally charged solo act It’s Such a Good Time; Benson Ojuwa’s commanding presence as Mtemi Bokono in Kifo Kisimani; Nyokabi Macharia’s raw and honest journey through selfhood, belonging and becoming in Index One; and Mercy Mutisya’s raging yet vulnerable turn as Kamene in Badassery. There were also Bilal Mwaura as Dedan Kimathi in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi and Single Kiasi star Gathoni Mutua in Free Me, delivering what many critics and audiences agreed were the defining performances of their acting careers.
Stay ahead of Kenya & East Africa’s film and TV.
Get our stories in your inbox — Subscribe to our newsletter now.
But 2025 hasn’t been all rosy for Kenyan theatre. The year began on a sombre but familiar note, when the government’s censorship whip came cracking down on Butere Girls High School’s play Echoes of War, which espoused ideas the powers that be didn’t particularly like. In May, Kenya – and the rest of the world – lost a legend: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, whose impact on political theatre, resistance and African storytelling is long-lasting and immeasurable. The year ended with the loss of two prolific thespians: actor Bilal Wanjau and the legendary playwright, academic, actor, and director David Mulwa, both of whom left an enormous shadow on the Kenyan stage. Wanjau and Mulwa, I hope you’re giving the other side as much theatre as you gave us down here on earth.
Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun with theatre this year, from politically charged historical biopics like The Trial of Dedan Kimathi to gutsy liturgical dramas like Bad Girls of the Bible; from immersive afrofuturisms like 2057: Dystopia to multilingual, multinational absurdist works like This Plot Is Not for Sale. The Kenyan stage was a ride full of genuinely compelling plays that kept me on my toes to the very end. It is, therefore, the biggest understatement of the year when I say that compiling this list has been a torturous experience.
A good play is defined by its ability to engage, move, and make you think. A great play, however tragic or absurd, must affirm the human condition and convey human truth as we know it, as we see it, as we live it. The following five plays, in no particular order, achieved this and more.
‘Bad Girls of the Bible‘
Written by Yafesi Musoke and directed by Julisa Rowe, Bad Girls of the Bible retold the stories of seven morally controversial biblical women. But this wasn’t everyday didactic Christian theatre or slapstick religious kitsch. Instead, the production effectively merged dramatic elements with the core purpose of worship, managing to educate, engage, and inspire its audience of faith.
Read Bad Girls of the Bible review here.
‘This Plot Is Not for Sale‘
An exhilarating plunge into absurdist theatre, This Plot Is Not for Sale, written, directed, and performed by Gisemba Ursula (Kenya), Theresa Seraphin (Germany), and Denijen Pauljević (former Yugoslavia), turned conventional storytelling on its head. The play dropped audiences into a surreal “photo studio” where identity, privilege, language, and colonial legacy collided in satirical spectacle. Through a multilingual, wildly inventive performance, it refused neat answers, instead interrogating how we see ourselves and others, how history shapes selfhood, and how systems of power persist beneath the gloss of progress. What could have been merely chaotic became a strangely intimate reflection on the fragmented nature of identity and the shared human condition.
Read This Plot Is Not for Sale review here.
Too Early for Birds’ ‘Badassery‘
Badassery dared to reckon with Kenya’s past and present by confronting the deep, often unsettling roots of police violence, power, and impunity. Staged in the aftermath of one of the worst moments of police brutality in recent memory, the play resisted the comfort of simplified villains or heroic myths. Instead, it traced a chilling continuity between colonial policing and modern-day state violence. The production compelled the audience to grapple with a history too easily flattened, reminding us that the past is not past, it’s rehearsed daily in our institutions, in our politics, and in our streets.
‘Elements‘
In Elements, acclaimed performer Wakio Mzenge, working with director Stuart Nash on material by John Sibi-Okumu, delivered a spellbinding one-woman tour de force that married theatrical grace with emotional depth. Through a finely calibrated performance, the play explored love, loss, memory, and resilience with poetic clarity; every gesture, silence, and line felt like a brushstroke revealing the contours of a life laid bare onstage. What especially stood out for me was the play’s intellectual confidence. It trusted its language, its staging, and above all, it trusted its audience.
‘Free Me‘
Free Me, based on the real-life story of its producer Gathoni Kimuyu, stood as one of 2025’s most profound theatrical experiences, a powerful ensemble work illuminating the often unspoken and misrepresented realities of gender-based violence in Kenya. With urgency and emotional honesty, the cast delivered a layered narrative that refracts pain, survival, and the search for agency through multiple perspectives. The play navigated trauma, autonomy, and female self-definition with brutal honesty. It was not an easy watch – nor should it be – but it stood as vital theatre that understood the power of storytelling as activism.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
All reporting, interviews, and reviews on Sinema Focus are protected under international copyright law and the Kenya Copyright Act, 2001. No part of this publication may be reproduced, rewritten, republished, or redistributed in any form by media outlets without prior written consent. For reprint or syndication inquiries, contact editorial@sinemafocus.com.
©️ 2026 Sinema Focus / African Film Press. All rights reserved.
Never miss a moment.
Get the latest stories from Sinema Focus delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter now.
