Latif Abubakar's 'The Darkest Chapter' brings UN reckoning on slavery to National Theatre stage

Veteran Ghanaian playwright Latif Abubakar is staging one of the country's most ambitious theatrical productions this October, a musical dance experience titled THE DARKEST CHAPTER. The work draws direct inspiration from President John Dramani Mahama and Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa's landmark testimony before the United Nations in March 2026, when the General Assembly voted 123 to 3 to declare the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement the gravest crime against humanity in recorded history.

The production represents Abubakar's 21st theatrical work and marks a significant moment for Ghana's cultural landscape. Rather than simply dramatising historical events, the play uses an innovative theatrical structure to invite audiences into a four-century journey of witnessing and reckoning.

The Story: One Witness Across Four Centuries

At the centre of the production is The Witness—an immortal narrator who has lived a thousand lives across four hundred years. The character moves through multiple identities: a child of the Gold Coast, a man chained on the Middle Passage, a field hand on a Caribbean plantation, a marcher alongside history's freedom fighters, and finally, a presence in the United Nations chamber itself.

The production unfolds simultaneously across three worlds: the dungeons and coastal fortresses of Cape Coast and Elmina, a contemporary UN General Assembly hall, and a timeless spirit realm accessed through drum and movement. This design creates an immersive experience that fuses West African, contemporary, and Caribbean dance traditions with a live score combining African percussion, orchestral strings, and a gospel-highlife choir.

Abubakar describes the work not as a re-enactment but as an inheritance. "We are not asking audiences to relive four hundred years of pain," he explained. "We are asking them to walk through it, so that when the resolution is finally spoken aloud on that stage, it doesn't land as a headline—it lands as an answered prayer."

Why It Matters for Ghana

This production carries particular weight for Ghana. The country positioned itself at the forefront of international reckoning with slavery's legacy when President Mahama and Foreign Minister Ablakwa brought Ghana's voice to the United Nations. The theatrical rendering of that diplomatic moment transforms it from a political achievement into a cultural statement, allowing Ghanaians to witness and process their nation's leadership on a global issue.

THE DARKEST CHAPTER also reflects a broader trend in Ghanaian theatre: using drama as a tool for public education and social change, what practitioners call Theatre for Development. Abubakar has spent his career building this bridge between stage and social issues, and this production represents his most personal and historically significant work to date.

The play positions Ghana not merely as a nation with a slave trade history, but as one actively leading international efforts to name and address that legacy. For Ghanaian audiences, attending becomes an act of collective acknowledgment and national pride—witnessing their country's diplomatic and moral leadership dramatised on stage.

Premiere Dates and Details

THE DARKEST CHAPTER headlines this year's Ghana Theatre Festival at the National Theatre, Accra, with performances across three days:

• Friday, October 2nd — 7:00pm
• Saturday, October 3rd — 4:00pm and 8:00pm
• Sunday, October 4th — 4:00pm and 8:00pm

The production is presented by Globe Productions in partnership with the National Theatre and supported by UNESCO, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tickets are priced at GHS 200 and can be purchased via USSD dial *447*1092# or online at www.globeproductions.biz.

With this production, Ghana's theatre community is staging what amounts to a national conversation about history, justice, and the country's role in reshaping how the world reckons with slavery's legacy.