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Our Lady of Kibeho, Theatre Royal Stratford East
Authentic insights into the Rwandan genocide
Seeing things: Our Lady of Kibeho [Manuel Harlan]

THE GENOCIDE in Rwanda is one of recent history’s more horrific events yet it has rarely been the focus of much theatre in Britain.

Katori Hall’s Our Lady of Kibeho goes some way to offset this. Set in 1981, before the genocide begins, the play shows a society at a point when the seeds of division and violence have already been sown.

It’s set in Kibeho College, where Alphonsine — a striking debut from Taz Munya — Anathalie (Liyah Summers) and Marie-Claire (the engaging Pepter Lunkuse) are visited by the Virgin Mary and given a series of messages, culminating in a shocking premonition of Rwanda’s violent future.

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