Kenyan writer wins BBC award

By Alice Martin
BBC, London

A Kenyan writing about the taboo subject of incest has taken first prize in the BBC's African Performance playwriting competition.

Rugoiyo's play was inspired by talking to refugees

John Rugoiyo Gichuki's prize-winning play which can be heard on the BBC this week looks at the after-effects of conflict on family relationships.

A Time for Cleansing tells the tale of a couple returning to visit their family in Rwanda.

"I have had some experience with refugee friends of mine and I listen to the BBC," says Rugoiyo. "There is all sorts of chaos in Africa."

"Mostly it's just imagination, but incest happens. Virtually everyday we read about it in the newspapers."

Brother and sister

The leading protagonists in the play, Linda and Eddie, find out truths that shake the foundation of their marriage during a family reunion to celebrate their return to Africa.

Their Aunty Tata remembers how she fled the fighting taking them as minors to the refugee camps. But she lost track of them.

In exile the children meet as adults and get married, not knowing that they are related.

Actors in the BBC drama studios in London

On finding the truth, Tata immediately insists on a traditional cleansing ceremony that will prevent calamity, as she sees it, falling on all the family.

"I was interested in portraying someone very intense, who was concerned with the traditional values of Africa," says Rugoiyo.

"There is no malice, she's just that type of person," he says of the character of Tata.

"Much of these kinds of events go unreported in Africa."

John Rugoiyo Gichuki is a teacher and columnist by profession. He first started writing radio plays after listening to drama on the BBC.

Listen to the play:

A Time for Cleansing