Cast announced for world premiere of LIBERATION at Royal Exchange
In 1945, the Fifth Pan-African Congress took place here in Manchester, it was an iconic event with a seismic, global impact on Africa’s future and freedom. Ntombizodwa Nyoni’s powerful new play LIBERATION brings the incredible people of the Congress into sharp focus 80 years after the event at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre from 27 June-26 July.
Director Monique Touko has assembled an extraordinary cast for this world premiere, alongside an impressive creative team including Mercury Prize-winning Ezra Collective’s Ife Ogunjobi, and movement director Kloé Dean.
Inspired by true events in Black British history, LIBERATION traces the private lives of the activists who fought to liberate Africa. The exceptional ensemble cast includes: Leonie Elliott (Call The Midwife, BBC) as Jamaican activist Alma la Badie, Eric Kofi Abrefa (Julie, National Theatre) as Kwame Nkrumah, the man who would go on to be the first President of Ghana, Pamela Nomvete (To Kill a Mockingbird, West End) as activist Amy Ashwood-Garvey, Eamonn Walker (Chicago Fire, NBC) as journalist and author George Padmore.
Completing the cast are Rudolphe Mdlongwa (Is God Is, Royal Court) as Makumalo Hlubi, Tonderai Munyevu (As You Like It, Shakespeare’s Globe) as Jomo Kenyatta, Tachia Newall (Doctor Who, Disney+) as Len Johnson, Joshua Roberts-Mensah (Drum, Omnibus Theatre) as Joe Appiah, Bex Smith (Coronation Street, ITV) as Betty Dorman, and Nicola Stephenson (Our Country’s Good, Lyric Hammersmith) as Dorothy Pizer.
The creative team includes set designer Paul Wills, costume designer Sunny Dolat, lighting designer Matt Haskins, sound designer Alexandra Faye Braithwaite, and casting director Sophie Parrott CDG.
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.