Ku Kyooto runs April 18th and 19th at the Uganda National Theatre. Tickets available at the National Theatre, New Life Church Kireka or online at KariTickets.com. Follow Ngoma z’Africa Creatives on all social platforms for more information.
Joy Alisanyukira Matovu grew up in rehearsal spaces. Not as a performer but as the child who had to come along because no one could leave him home alone. He watched. He absorbed. And somewhere along the way, he developed an instinct for what makes a story work—a gut feeling he can not always explain but has learned to trust.
In this episode of The MuFrame Podcast, Joy shares what it was like to adapt *Ku Kyooto* from a single poem into a full stage play. Most adaptations begin with novels or prose. This one began with verse. His challenge was to keep every line intact while somehow transforming poetry into dialogue, stanza into scene, and rhythm into relationships. He and the team removed only one line because it did not quite fit. The rest of the poet’s words remain.
What emerged is a story about something Joy says we rarely see portrayed: love between fathers and sons. Not estrangement. Not distance. But presence and guidance and the kind of healthy relationship that feels almost radical in its simplicity. That is the emotional core he hopes audiences will find for themselves.
He also offers a gentle critique of contemporary Ugandan storytelling. The stories themselves are rich, he says. What is missing is plot—the careful architecture that makes a twist feel earned and a moment feel inevitable. Depth is not about shocking the audience. It is about building something they can trace back and say, *now that makes sense*.
This is not a sad production, he promises. It is fun. It is joyful. And it carries the essence of the fireplace—not the literal flames but the gathering, the passing on, the quiet transmission of wisdom from one generation to the next.
