Legendary Ugandan playwright, actor, and director Alex Mukulu is dead . He was 72 years old .
Family sources told ugandaupdatenews.com that the celebrated actor has been ill for sometime now but didnt disclose the exact cause of death .
Mukulu’s passing has sent shockwaves through the East African arts fraternity, drawing immense grief and tribute from across the nation.
One of Uganda’s widely known stage name cutting through generations of thetre lovers , Mukulu is best known for his 1992 masterpiece 30 Years of Bananas, which critically examined Uganda’s turbulent political journey and was published by Oxford University Press the following year.
From 1977 he wrote about a play a year, producing more than 30 works that were staged in Uganda and abroad.
His theatre was known for its political and social satire, examining the country’s history and the daily lives of ordinary Ugandans.
Told through Kaleekeezi, a Rwandan refugee who survives one state terror , Mukulu’s 30 years os Bananas used humour and allegory to to have a candid reflection of the country’s independence journey -while noting the gains and losses since 1962.
His other works included Wounds of Africa, The Guest of Honour, Muzukulu wa Kabangala and Journey to Self-Realisation, which he staged at the opening of the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Kampala.
That performance drew a standing ovation from an audience that included Queen Elizabeth II and President Yoweri Museveni.
In 2012 he directed the production marking Uganda’s 50th independence annivesary at Kololo and was among those awarded an independence medal.
After about 17 years away from the Ugandan stage, Mukulu returned in 2024 with Kulunkalu ne Kulumbisi, a local reworking of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the National Theatre in Kampala. He said the return was a chance to mentor younger theatre-makers.
He was also an outspoken critic of the industry, arguing that Ugandan theatre had come to favour comedy over storytelling that confronted social and political realities.
Mukulu’s work helped establish Ugandan theatre as a form of social and political commentary.
When he returned to the big stage in 2024 , Mukulu told journalists that he wanted to mentor a new generation of performers while directing the play – Kulunkalu ne Kulumbisi .
Prominent figures, including the Katikkiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga, have paid tribute to Mukulu, hailing him as a giant of theatre and a fierce defender of culture.
