British Producer Arrested in Uganda over Gay Play

A British theatre producer was yesterday arrested in Uganda for staging a play about a gay person in Kampala. This comes despite a temporary ban by the country’s media authorities.

Producer David Cecil will stay in jail till Monday when his hearing is expected to come up. . “There are two charges preferred against him, one of disobeying lawful orders contrary to the penal code and another of staging the play which was still under review,” Ibin Ssenkumbi, a spokesman for the Kampala police, told AFP.

The groundbreaking play, The River and The Mountain, was staged at several venues around Kampala last month despite an injunction by Uganda’s media council, the government media authority, which had placed a temporary ban on the play pending review of the script. The play examines the plight of a man who comes out as homosexual and the motivations of Uganda’s vociferous anti-gay lobby. The play was written by British playwright Beau Hopkins but directed and performed by Ugandans.

Homosexuality is already a crime in Uganda but proposed legislation currently before parliament would see the death penalty introduced for certain homosexual acts. To this effect, public discussion of homosexuality (including by rights groups) would be punished by up to seven years in jail.