Silent Voices Uganda

Kony play raises hair at National Theatre

Local Press

lnternational Press

OH! MY! GA-AD !!!

A student of Theatre, I watched many productions and participated in a few that somehow felt incomplete because of all the production shortcomings we face in Ugandan Theatere …

All was fine and dandy with me, my idea of Theatre was always constant, therefore I didn’t bother myself with watching most of the productions that were put up UNTIL I WATCHED GA’AD!!!!!

Youth Exploiting potential in Art Industry

As the debate begins taking shape at The Hague, with a possibility of trying former Lord Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander, Dominic Ongwen, in Uganda, playwright and filmmaker Judith Lucy Adong is kick-starting month-long rehearsals for her play titled ‘Silent Voices’.

Letting the Silent Voices be Heard

When I wrote it then and showed it to a couple of directors in the country, most told me it was not easy to pull off because of the numerous locations. One even told me that it preaches revenge and that it was still early to throw it at the public.

SILENT VOICES The return of Serious Theatre

The producer sent me the script, and I was frozen for three days. The issues in there were both sensitive and painful. Because of peace, political sentiments took precedence over the emotional and psychic elements. They left it to the religious leaders.”

“The power of art is that it touches you when you least expect it. When you are forced to deal with your own complicity in silencing others, how do you engage? How do you face one another?”

Ugandan Voices of Change - Adong Judith Lucy

She takes no prisoners in a play which provides a snapshot of the effect the atrocities in Northern Uganda have affected the victims of the protracted conflict between the Government of Uganda and rebel leader Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

How Kony Victims were Betrayed and Forced to Forget

Silent Voices... depicts the induction of children into the rebel ranks, marriage to senior rebels, murders, rapes of both sexes, destruction of culture, and the lives of the victims.

More Investment Needed in the Arts

The ones I have interacted with are a talented group of actors and understand where they are from. This is a cast of 32 actors, the biggest I have dealt with. I haven’t watched any other play here so I cannot rate theatre. But what you need is another theatre strictly for theatre. The National Theatre is just space that reeks of incompetence.

The Old Vic Theatre, led by Artistic Director Kevin Spacey, has donated the venue free of charge to Ugandan playwright Judy Adong so that a benefit reading of her powerful new play can be seen in London for one night only, tonight, November 4th at 7pm

Just Me, You and THE SILENCE Special Benefit Reading

So when I went out on a chilly November night to see a play about LGBT issues in Uganda I wasn’t expecting a very cheery night out. And yet I laughed my head off nearly all the way through it. It’s a consciously funny play from start to finish, and ridiculously entertaining. This was in many ways a huge relief.

Just Me, You and THE SILENCE at Old Vic Theatre

But then, while I was writing a play about the war in northern Uganda, the LGBT cause chose me. I had never heard of homosexuality as a sexual orientation until 2009, when Uganda introduced its anti-homosexuality bill amid massive international protests.

Our duty to tell the truth about being gay in Uganda

“At the forefront of my work is satire,” Adong noted in her remarks. She uses satire and an absurdist sense of humor to highlight the cynical political maneuvering by elected officials, including the Minister for Culture and Appropriate Morals and the Christian church that puts the LGBTQ community in its crosshairs.

Judith Lucy Adong

World Pride Toronto

Watching Silent Voices, one gets the impression that the world has been feeding on half truths about the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in Northern Uganda.

There is so much more to it than the media has been feeding us.

Speaking on reconciliation, Bishop Ochola Baker, one of the panelists, said: "Among the Acholi people, there can be no reconciliation without both parties taking responsibility.

By the time the cast, all dressed in black, made its final bow it was clear Adong and team had made all the right moves and if theatre can have three of such shows a year, the glory of this wonderful art will definitely be restored.

Play Exposes hypocricy of Religious Leaders

In effect, the play shakes the roots of our beliefs, looks at the place of women in churches, examines the question of spiritual manipulation and as well as human existence.

Judith Adong raises her voice whenever she feels the need to, regardless of societal sentiments on the issue at hand.