It may come as a surprise to some, who know him solely as a fiction writer and essayist, that Binyavanga Wainaina wrote a play. Shine Your Eye, a story about a Nigerian hacker, is Binyavanga’s only play.

In 2010, the play was produced by Volcano Theatre, based in Toronto, and staged at The Luminato Festival.  Shine Your Eye (which our Nigerian readers may know as a pidgin English phrase for being vigilant) tells the story of “A young Ogoni hacker in Lagos [who] is caught between two possible futures – one Nigerian, one North American.”

The archival recording of the 2010 world premier has been streamed a few times this year. For those who didn’t get to see it and are curious about the play and its stage production, we are sharing a few photographs of the performance. Thanks to the folks at Volcano Theatre for sharing these stunning images with us. To find out more about the play and the beautiful story about the collaboration that brought it about, go here.

Images via Volcano Theatre.

https://www.volcano.ca/shine-your-eye