{"id":2011,"date":"2026-06-24T04:42:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnnglobalnews.com\/2026\/06\/24\/play-puts-spotlight-on-kenyas-crisis-of-gender-based-violence\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T04:42:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:42:49","slug":"play-puts-spotlight-on-kenyas-crisis-of-gender-based-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/?p=2011","title":{"rendered":"Play puts spotlight on Kenya\u2019s crisis of gender-based violence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span>The play was restaged this month at the Chandaria Jain Social Group auditorium in Nairobi. Photograph: Esther Sweeney\/The Guardian<\/span><\/figcaption><\/span><\/div>\n
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Autobiographical work Free Me aims to encourage victims to speak out in country where violence against women is rising<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By Carlos Mureithi<\/a> in Nairobi. Photographs by Esther Sweeney<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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T<\/span>here are audible gasps in the auditorium in Nairobi as a husband launches a volley of blows and slaps on his wife and pushes her to the floor. \u201cI wish I could spare you this,\u201d the wife tells the audience. \u201cMy husband beat me up as if we were in a bar fight. Except, in a bar someone fights back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scene comes from Free Me, an autobiographical play by Gathoni Kimuyu, a Kenyan theatre and TV producer who lived through an abusive marriage.<\/p>\n

The success of the production, which was first performed in November and returned this month for a rerun, reflects a public outcry over gender-based violence (GBV) in Kenya, where already high rates of femicide and abuse have risen further in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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