HBAF2020 Presents - Black Lover

Award-winning playwright, Zimbabwean Stanley Makuwe brings us a gripping drama about war, politics and colonialism.

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. “We must make it possible for every individual to lead the good life, to win a place in the sun.”

Ex-pat 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 Stanley Makuwe’s story.

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