Ritual, Movement, and African Dramaturgy as Anti-Colonial Archive: A Study of The Trial of Dedan Kimathi

Abstract

This study examines how ritual, movement, and embodied performance in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi function as an anti-colonial archive. The play rejects the authority of written colonial records and builds a counter-archive grounded in African dramaturgy. The use of “Movements” rather than conventional acts marks a return to rhythmic and ceremonial structures found in African oral cultures. The play opens with rising drums and a mimed sequence of slavery, forced labour, and rebellion. This full-bodied performance reconstructs Black history without relying on text. The stage becomes a space where memory is carried through collective actions. Drawing on Paul Connerton’s claim that social memory is stored in bodily practices, the study argues that the play treats the body as a historical document. The drumbeat acts as a mnemonic device, while freedom songs preserve political truths suppressed in colonial archives. Richard Schechner’s theory of restored behavior helps frame these scenes as repeated acts that keep cultural memory alive. Decolonial archive theory further shows how the colonial state controls written evidence, erases Mau Mau testimony, and frames Kimathi as a criminal. The play answers this erasure by placing memory in movement, ritual, and embodied defiance. Kimathi’s tortured body becomes evidence of state violence, while the Woman’s agile movement across the city maps a living route of resistance. The Boy and Girl’s bodily shift from fear to courage shows how political identity grows through shared action. The study argues that Ngũgĩ and Mugo build a new archive on stage one made of rhythm, song, gesture, and enactment. Through this form, the play restores suppressed histories and turns performance into a site of memory and liberation.