Gathoni Kimuyu has spent fifteen years creating other people’s narratives; from Machachari, to MaEmpress, to certified hit classic Too Early For Birds. Moving from success to success, she has been the invisible force turning scripts into cultural moments. Dubbed Producer of the Year (Kenya Theatre Awards 2024), she is well known for making magic happen behind the camera. On November 28 th , and this whole weekend, she steps into the light with the story that matters most: her own.
FREE ME is Gathoni’s first personal stage project, but it is also her truth about surviving a marriage that quickly became a war zone, and then finding freedom on the other side of that violence. Based on her own experience, FREE ME follows one woman from teenager to survivor, through a relationship that promised love, but delivered brutality – played by a sterling cast comprising Nungari Kiore, Renee Gichuki, Joan Cherono, Ella Maina, and Gathoni Maina. The original work that sparked this production was initially researched and written by Magunga Williams.
1. Your show is being staged this weekend. How are you feeling about that?
I’m feeling great but really nervous.
2. It’s very interesting that your show is being staged right around the beginning of 16 Days of Activism. Was that on purpose, or it just happened to be so?
It was on purpose. I thought it would be a perfect time to tell a true story from the perspective of a survivor.
3. Does 16 Days of Activism hold any particular importance to you? Do you feel like it is important in general?
Yes it does, it is a reminder that we still have so much work to do. It is very important.
4. You often refer to yourself as a survivor instead of a victim. What is it that makes you make that distinction?
I believe having walked away and lived to tell my story makes me a survivor.
5. You’ve said before that you share your story for others to know it’s possible. Why do you think it is that society still shames people for leaving? Shouldn’t violence be a huge reason to leave?
Society upholds things like marriage and family, even in these times, even
in 2025. Walking away from an abusive relationship, even a clearly abusive
and violent one, is frowned upon as it is looked at as destroying the family
fabric. The family values that people keep talking about are more important
that the lives of the people in danger, to them.
6. In terms of abuse, some people say there is a difference between emotional and physical, but a lot of people say one always leads to the other. Do you think this is true?
Yes it is true. While one tampers with your thinking and reduces your experiences, most times it leads to physical abuse.
7. Another version of abuse that people don’t often talk about, and is very common, is financial abuse. Why do you think people target money, as well as emotion?
Money is freedom and unfortunately, poverty is very dehumanising. Victims without financial freedom end up feeling helpless and staying with their abusers as long as they are providing for them.
8. Making it through abuse is hard, and getting away is even harder. Statistics tend to say that women try and leave many times before they actually leave. What was it that made you leave at last?
It was that one beating after the baptism of my daughter that made me realise I might die at the hands of my husband. I knew I was not going to wait for another beating so I started making plans to leave.
9. What would you say to someone trying to leave, or struggling to get away?
I know leaving is one of the hardest thing to do but it is the best thing you will ever do for yourself.
10. Are you aware of resources that people can use for support, for encouragement, or for logistical assistance to get away, in Kenya?
At the moment, GVRC, USIKIMYE, COVAW and CREAW.
11. How do you think the typical Kenyan can use their voice to talk about everything that’s going on in Kenya now condensing violence against women – especially considering that you said, when you were going through this time in your life,
everyone knew?
There’s need for accountability between peers, there’s also an importance of having conversations online that sensitize us on the dangers of abuse/abusers. Abusers don’t get held accountable and that needs to change.
12. You’ve spoken online about your ex-husband threatening you in the lead up to the show. Do you think public shaming of the abuser, or not keeping quiet for the survivor, can be used as a method to end GBV?
Unfortunately shaming the abuser is not enough, because my abuser is still coming after me. There’s so much that needs to be done; the law needs to start jailing abusers and the police system needs to start treating victims of GBV more seriously.
13. Our religious fraternity in Kenya has often been behind the protection of abusers, by insisting that people stay in marriages that can kill them. How do you think the church plays a role in abusive marriages, and how can they start helping?
The narrative has to change. While marriage is a covenant between partners and God, the church should be a voice of holding abusers accountable and do away with encouraging people to stay in abusive marriages.
14. Your show has five women in it, each representing versions of you. How would you describe the version of you that exists now?
The version of me that exists now is aware, still learning, still growing and healing.
15. When people watch the play, what message do you want them to take home?
To remember to love themselves and to realise that in the end, self love is the highest form of love.
Abigail Arunga is a writer, author (Akello, A Side of Raunch, The Mysteries of Jabali and Sauti, Siri ya Mwezi) editor, columnist, moderator, scriptwriter, social media manager, influencer, publicist, poet, copywriter, bookstore owner, quizmaster, podcaster, and MC. She’s passionate about the arts, pop culture, current affairs, and social justice. Abigail is invested in how to sleep more, anti-capitalism, virulent feminism, and good fiction. You can read her writing on the Daily Nation, Nation Online, Akoroko, Sinema Focus, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Goalkeepers Report), Debunk Media, Goethe Institut Kenya, as well as her own website, akello.co.ke. You can see her most recent screen work on Showmax, on Pepeta and 4Play, and on Maisha Makutano on Citizen TV. Her podcast, the Wadhii Podcast is on Spotify (under Africa Uncensored). Her first short film as writer/director, Bella Is Dying Maybe Next Week, debuted in Nairobi in February 2025. She was recently awarded the Best Scriptwriter (TV Drama) of 2025 at the 6th Women In Film Awards.
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/abigailarunga