Vitimbi as a Commentary of Kenya’s Socio-Political Experiences

Abstract

The essay analyses Vitimbi (1975-2014), a theatre text aired on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Using the family as its setting, the text  wittingly accounts the socio-political realities of everyday life in post-colonial Kenya. In the main, the essay interrogates how the producer  of Vitimbi uses the family to image socio-political issues in post-independence Kenya. The focus is on how the producer uses  the family conflicts and interactions as an allegory of the post-colonial nation-state. The artistic use of the family allows me to examine  Mzee Ojwang’s family as a microcosm of the large society. The producer realizes this task by inextricably knitting familial and patriarchal  structures on one hand with social, economic and political experiences on the other against a backdrop of Kenya’s history. The essay  therefore problematizes characterisation within the domestic setting to establish how characters are used to address political nuances.