KalakutHER: Queen of Fela’s Republic brings an important and rarely told chapter of Nigerian cultural history to the stage as part of Sheffield Theatres’ Open Works Festival.
Created by Oluwasegun Lafup Ogundipe, this work-in-progress performance turns attention towards the women of Fela Kuti’s Kalakuta Republic and their experiences during one of the most violent episodes in the history of the Afrobeat movement.
The production takes the military assault on Kalakuta Republic in February 1977 as its starting point. Around one thousand soldiers stormed Fela Kuti’s Lagos compound, destroying the community and subjecting many of its residents to extreme violence.
Rather than telling this history solely through Fela Kuti, KalakutHER centres the women whose stories have often remained at the edges of accounts of the period.
Combining live percussion, physical theatre and testimony, the production explores the role women played not simply around Afrobeat but within the creative, political and communal world that allowed it to flourish. It presents them as activists, collaborators and cultural figures in their own right.
As a work in progress, audiences have the opportunity to encounter a production while it is still evolving and to witness how contemporary theatre can recover overlooked histories and bring them to new audiences.
Taking place during Black History Month, KalakutHER: Queen of Fela’s Republic offers a powerful opportunity to reconsider the history of Afrobeat through the experiences of the women who lived, worked and resisted within Kalakuta.
Please note that the production includes themes of violence, political trauma and sexual violence and is recommended for audiences aged 14 and over.
More Sheffield Listings MORE
A Night To Remember – Motown Show
A Night To Remember – Motown Show brings the sound of 1960s Detroit to Sheffield in a high-energy…
KalakutHER: Queen of Fela’s Republic
KalakutHER: Queen of Fela’s Republic brings an important and rarely told chapter of Nigerian cultural history to the…
Seven Magic Birds: An African Panto
What happens when the traditions of a British pantomime meet the storytelling world of an African folktale? Seven…
Joeboy Live in Sheffield: Nigeria Independence Celebration
Nigerian Afrobeats star Joeboy comes to Sheffield for a special late-night celebration marking Nigeria’s Independence, bringing contemporary Nigerian…
The Pendulum — The TASH Project
The TASH Project presents a special community screening of The Pendulum, a film and research project exploring the…
In Conversation with David Greig and John Rwothomack
Two leading theatre-makers come together at Sheffield Theatres for a conversation about storytelling, creative practice and the place…
ÌLỌ́YÁ… the Journey Begins
ÌLỌ́YÁ… the Journey Begins is an intimate one-person performance exploring dreams, family, love, loss and the difficult choices…
Ijakadi — The Wrestle
Ijakadi — The Wrestle is an intimate work-in-progress performance exploring colourism, identity, masculinity and the struggle to understand…