into the future

It's been a really amazing few months for Bilimankhwe Arts ... we have doubled in size to a team of four. Artistic Director Kate Stafford and Associate Director Amy Bonsall have recently welcomed Roe Lane as Literary Associate and Charlie Morgan Jones as Creative Associate.

Roe and Charlie have had no time to catch their breath - they have already started work on a new piece to be presented at Ovalhouse in the New Year. Based on Stanley Onjezani Kenani's short story 'Love On Trail' (nominated for the Caine Prize in 2012), it is multi-media and very contemporary in style, intercutting Kenani’s story of illegal homosexuality in Malawi with the press frenzy surrounding British singer George Michael’s 1998 arrest for ‘lewd conduct’ in a LA public toilet.

In the mean time, our Malawi partners Nanzikambe have been busy showing both Romeo and Juliet and And Crocodiles Are Hungry At Night in Malawi. On the 8th November Crocodiles played at Chancellor College, University of Malawi - where Jack Mapanje was Head of the English Department at the time of his arrest. Chanco students are notoriously difficult to please, so it was with some trepidation that we received a copy of the review - however, it seems the production was very well received, by both critic and audience.

"the masterpiece And Crocodiles Are Hungry At Night craftily immortalises memories overwritten by 19 years of multiparty democracy"  - James Chavula, The Nation