Breakfast with Mugabe
Fraser Grace
BBC Radio 3: Drama On 3
Broadcast: Sunday 4th June 2006 @ 8:00 p.m.
The year is 2001 and President Mugabe and his wife are holed up in the State House in Harare. Mugabe is in a state of paranoid
terror. He is being stalked by an ngozi, or bitter spirit - the murderous ghost of a long-dead comrade. Fearing for his sanity, Mugabe
turns to a psychiatrist for help.
By imagining the combative relationship between the black President and his white psychiatrist, Breakfast With Mugabe explores the
conflict between despotism and liberalism in modern Zimbabwe.
"Breakfast With Mugabe" by Fraser Grace was first performed in The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in October 2005. The play
transferred to the Duchess Theatre in the West End in early May where it starred Joseph Mydell as President Mugabe.
With Noma Dumezweni [Grace Mugabe], Joseph Mydell [Robert Mugabe], Christopher Obi [Gabriel Marunda], and David Rintoul
[Andrew Peric].
Directed by Antony Sher
Produced for radio by Marilyn Imrie. Indie (Catherine Bailey production).
85 min.
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