How does a revolution begin and who are the people that keep it going?

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Inspired by true events in Black British history, LIBERATION is a powerful new play from writer Ntombizodwa Nyoni and director Monique Touko. Tracing the private lives of the people who fought to liberate Africa, it explores why their story remains relevant in 2025.

It’s 15 October 1945, Manchester. Africa's freedom and future is in the hands of her descendants at the Fifth Pan-African Congress at Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall.

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With decades of championing change under their belts, emerging African and Caribbean activists and scholars offer new radical ideas of liberation. However, the organiser, Trinidadian activist George Padmore is unsure who to pass the baton to. Kwame Nkrumah is fuelled by an idealistic desire to become the first Black president of the Gold Coast. Young, resourceful Jamaican social worker Alma La Badie is grappling with the truth behind who must be sacrificed for the cause. And what of the revered Amy Ashwood-Garvey how does she ensure the voices of Black women are heard?

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A story of hope, friendship and the consequences of a long-denied awakening unravels in the conference halls and bars of Chorlton, but at what cost?

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This groundbreaking new play developed 80 years after the Congress introduces the people behind the movement. LIBERATION gets to the heart of how our future is built, how our leaders are made, and how dreams are realised. With generational shifts and gender politics added to a swirling mix of power dynamics, LIBERATION asks timeless questions about revolution, freedom, and what it means to be an activist.

 

LIBERATION includes composition by Ife Ogunjobi from the Brit Award-winning Ezra Collective.