Black Jesus

Description

And do you know why I was called by that name? Because I decided who would be saved and who would be condemned. I took that responsibility for others and now I take it for myself. I am Black Jesus. I do not crawl. Zimbabwe. 2015. The Mugabe Government has fallen and investigations into its abuses have begun. Eunice Ncube, working for the new Truth and Justice Commission, begins the interviewing of Gabriel Chibamu, one of the most infamous perpetrators of the horrors of the Mugabe regime. As Gabriel's trial and inevitable prosecution approach, Eunice begins to sift through the past - only to find that right and wrong, and guilt and innocence, are far less clear than she first thought . . . This stunning new play by Finborough Theatre Playwright-in-Residence, and one of the UK's leading political playwrights, Anders Lustgarten, is more urgent than ever. Black Jesus unpicks the political complexities of Zimbabwe through the devastating personal journeys of two very different people, both scarred by one of Africa's most notorious dictatorships.

Anders Lustgarten is Pearson Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre, where his first two plays, The Insurgents (2007) and Enduring Freedom (2008), were produced. Other work includes The Punishment Stories (shortlisted for the 2007 Verity Bargate Award), an adaptation of Slawomir Mrozek's The Police (BAC 2007), The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie (2010) for the National Theatre Studio, and If You Don't Let Us Dream We Won't Let You Sleep for the Royal Court. Lustgarten is a political activist, has taught on Death Row, has been arrested by the Turkish secret police, and holds a PhD in Chinese politics from the University of California. He won the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwright's Award with a commission from the Royal Court in 2011.

The play has bags of vigour and offers a bracing attack on financial capitalism . . . what Lustgarten has to say is vitally important. * Guardian on If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep * [Lustgarten] is a fierce writer whose activism blends intellectual curiosity and idealism * Evening Standard on If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep * Lustgarten's disgust is bracing as he begs to differ, big-time, from David Cameron . . . Lustgarten is right to castigate the cosiness of much political drama * Independent on If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep *