Powerful message takes to the stage

REHEARSALS are well underway for LIBERATION produced by the Royal Exchange Theatre and Factory International, Manchester as part of the Manchester International Festival 2025 [MIF25].

- Preview by Steve Cooke

How does a revolution begin and who keeps it going?

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 activists who fought to liberate Africa.

It's October 15, 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.

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.