A journey of self-discovery, this new production explores identity, belonging and and what home means in the aftermath of a genocide.
Co-written by Jo Ingabire Moys (BAFTA nominee – Bazigaga) and Jessica Hagan (co-writer Queens of Sheba)
Directed by Jo Ingabire Moys
Performed by Nahel Tzegai (Leah), Michelle Asante (Odette), Sara Mokonen (Amina) and Alex Akindeji (Maurice)
- Co-written by Rwandan genocide survivor Jo Ingabire Moys, an acclaimed screen
director who was nominated for a BAFTA for her debut short film Bazigaga - The play, inspired by new book 100 Days, 100 Stories: Rwandan Voices on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, weaves real-life testimony, dark humour and fictional narrative with many creatives contributing their lived experience of war
- The four-strong cast features Nahel Tzegai (The Jungle, Young Vic), Michelle Asante (Top Boy, Netflix), Sara Mokonen (The Jungle, Young Vic) and Alex Akindeji (The
Streets, Hackney Empire
Exploring what it means to be a survivor, immigrant and British in a charged political climate, I Am Leah, is a new four-hander which follows Leah, a strong, independent black woman. At least that’s the role she has been playing. But when she learns she has to travel from Britain back to Rwanda, the country of her birth which she left as a refugee, to receive a prestigious award, her world implodes.
Writer and performer Jo Ingabire Moys, said:
“30 years after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and many headlines and protests about immigrants later, Rwandan-Brits like myself find themselves wondering where we belong. ‘I am Leah’ invites the audience along to a family’s journey to discover where home is for culturally and emotionally displaced people, surviving in an adopted homeland growing increasingly politically hostile to their presence.”
100 Days, 100 Stories: Rwandan Voices on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, published by Huza Press, will be available to pre-order from 10 October. There will be a Q&A post show at Camden People’s.
Theatre on 10 October moderated by Dr Zoe Norrideg (literature scholar at Kings College London) which will discuss the themes raised by both the book and the play.
