Audible gasps filled the auditorium in Nairobi as a husband unleashed a barrage of blows and slaps on his wife, pushing her to the floor. 'I wish I could spare you this,' the wife told the audience. 'My husband beat me up as if we were in a bar fight. Except, in a bar someone fights back.' This scene is from Free Me, an autobiographical play by Gathoni Kimuyu, a Kenyan theatre and TV producer who endured an abusive marriage.
Rerun Amid Public Outcry
The production, first staged in November and restaged this month at the Chandaria Jain Social Group auditorium, reflects a public outcry over gender-based violence (GBV) in Kenya. Rates of femicide and abuse, already high, have risen further in recent years. In January 2025, after nationwide marches in 2024 and online campaigns #StopKillingUs, #EndFemicideKe, and #TotalShutDownKe, the government formed a technical working group to identify GBV trends, hotspots, and causes. The group's report cited patriarchal structures and gender inequality as factors, recommending that femicide be codified as a distinct offence and that the president declare GBV a national crisis. However, the government has yet to implement these recommendations, and GBV cases continue to make headlines.
Personal Story, Universal Message
Kimuyu, also the play's producer and head of marketing, said: 'When we look at the numbers in Kenya right now, cases of femicide, sexual abuse, physical abuse – any type of abuse against women – are very high. And the numbers just keep rising and rising.' She added: 'One of the reasons why we’re restaging this show is because of how important it is to the conversations that we’re having now and for the change that we’re looking for as women and as a country.'
Popularly known as Queen Gathoni, the 41-year-old writer-producer has worked on key Kenyan TV and theatre productions, including the children's drama Machachari and the historical play series Too Early for Birds. Free Me covers her life from her teenage years in Nairobi's eastern outskirts in the early 2000s to the present day, told through five actors portraying her at different ages: the mischievous 16-year-old, the 21-year-old who marries and faces abuse, the 25-year-old who gives birth and leaves, and the 30-year-old who rebuilds her life.
Impact on Audiences and Cast
Mugambi Nthiga, the show's director and co-writer, said: 'This is a play about gender-based violence about someone who lived [through it], but it’s being staged in a reality where there’s more than one woman every day who is not so lucky [and] who doesn’t get to have the same kind of ending that this play does.' He added: 'This is not just a story. This is someone’s true story. And it’s a story of someone who’s able to get out of it.'
Renee Gichuki, who plays Kimuyu at age 16, said the play was timely because GBV 'has become a crisis.' 'The person standing next to you has experienced it or knows someone who has experienced it,' she said. 'We are educating and we are shedding light to both parties to know what can be done differently.' Tobit Tom, who plays the husband, said acting out the role 'comes with a lot of heaviness' as a man, but he understood that men are the main perpetrators and must show that GBV 'is happening and we have to talk about it and address it with seriousness.'
Wambui Njeri, a 24-year-old businesswoman, said after watching that the play humanised victims and showed the perpetrator could be anybody. 'This makes it very clear that it’s your everyday woman, it’s your everyday man,' she said. Her friend Patrick Muchiri, 40, a communications practitioner, said: 'As men we really need to do better … Yes, we are the head of families and the head of societies. But that doesn’t translate to belittling or looking down or causing violence or harm.'
Reframing the Conversation
In the show, Kimuyu's character stays with her husband for two years despite the abuse. When she finally tells him she's leaving, his character draws derisive laughs by saying, 'You are never going to find anyone who loves you like I love you.' The laughs turn to cheers when she replies: 'Your love is exactly the kind of love I’m walking away from. For ever.' Kimuyu hopes the play encourages victims to speak out without shame and reframes the conversation to stop blaming women and hold abusers responsible. She chose to tell her own story rather than create fiction to make people connect more deeply. 'There’s nothing that resonates harder for people than a story about someone they know,' she said. 'To see someone survive and actually be on this side makes people believe that it’s possible.'
