Black Lover

“We must make it possible for every individual to lead the good life, to win a place in the sun. We are in danger of becoming a race of fear-ridden neurotics — we who live in the finest country on Earth.”

Expat New Zealander Sir Garfield Todd said these words in his final speech as Prime Minister of Rhodesia in 1958. Ousted from politics for being a “black lover”, Todd’s ongoing fight for racial equality and opposition to white minority rule led to his house arrest in 1965, the starting point for Makuwe’s story.

Confined to his home, with the civil war raging close by and separated from his wife and children who have fled abroad, Todd and his family’s servant, Steady, confront the uncertainties of their precarious lives.

Zimbabwean Stanley Makuwe migrated to New Zealand in 2002. An award-winning playwright, Makuwe combines writing with a career in psychiatry. Black Lover brings to life a great New Zealander and explores how two men stand with courage against terror in a nation experiencing deep racial divides.

Black Lover was proudly developed with the support of Auckland Theatre Company.

In association with Auckland Arts Festival.