“The Darkest Chapter”: Latif Abubakar’s 21st production brings President Mahama’s UN reckoning to the National Theatre stage

On March 25, 2026, the United Nations General Assembly did something it had never done in eight decades of existence: it voted, 123 to 3, to declare the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement the gravest crime against humanity in recorded history.

It was a resolution spearheaded by the Republic of Ghana, carried into the UN chamber on the strength of the historic testimony of H.E. President John Dramani Mahama and Foreign Minister Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and borne forward on the shoulders of the African Union, CARICOM, and people of conscience across the world.

That moment — a nation's leadership turning centuries of silence into a verdict — is the spark behind one of the most ambitious theatrical undertakings Ghana has ever staged: THE DARKEST CHAPTER, a musical dance theatrical experience created by veteran playwright Latif Abubakar, and directly inspired by the President's and the Foreign Minister's testimony before the United Nations.

A Thousand Lives, One Witness

At the heart of the production is The Witness — an immortal narrator who has lived a thousand lives across four hundred years: a child of the Gold Coast, a man in chains on the Middle Passage, a field hand on a Caribbean plantation, a marcher beside history's freedom fighters, and, tonight, a presence moving unseen through the halls of the United Nations.

He carries four centuries of stolen names, hard-won freedom, and an unfinished promise into the UN chamber — and by the time the vote is called, THE DARKEST CHAPTER turns the question back on the audience: what will you do now that you know?

Staged across three simultaneous worlds — the shore and dungeons of Cape Coast and Elmina, a modern UN General Assembly hall, and a timeless spirit realm reachable only through drum and movement — the production fuses West African, contemporary, and Caribbean dance traditions with a live score of African percussion, orchestral strings, and full gospel-highlife choir.

It is, by every measure, a sensory masterpiece: immersive, cinematic, and unapologetically global in its ambition — designed, its creators say, to premiere with equal power in Accra, Kingston, Bridgetown, Port of Spain, New York, or London.

"This is not a re-enactment. It is an inheritance," said creator Latif Abubakar. "We are not asking audiences to relive four hundred years of pain. 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."

The 21st Chapter of a Storied Career

THE DARKEST CHAPTER marks the 21st production of Latif Abubakar's celebrated career — a body of work that has quietly built Ghana's most consistent bridge between theatre and social change. Over the years, Abubakar has carved out a distinctive niche: using the stage not merely to entertain, but to confront the health, social, and current issues shaping everyday life — championing what practitioners call Theatre for Development, where drama becomes a tool for public education, healing, and national conversation.

From that same tradition now rises his most historic and most personal work yet: a production inspired by his own country's president standing before the world and demanding justice for the darkest chapter in human history.

A National Moment, A Global Stage

THE DARKEST CHAPTER headlines this year's Ghana Theatre Festival, running for three unmissable nights and matinees at the National Theatre, Accra:

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

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, this is theatre staged at the intersection of history, diplomacy, and national pride — a rare opportunity for individuals, families, and friends to witness, together, a story that is at once deeply Ghanaian and universally human.

Tickets are priced at GHS 200 and can be purchased by dialling *447*1092#, or online at www.globeproductions.biz.

This October, the National Theatre will not simply host a play. It will host a reckoning — and an invitation to every Ghanaian, and every friend of Ghana, to answer the question THE DARKEST CHAPTER leaves ringing in the dark: the sun must not set on justice.

#TheDarkestChapter #GhanaTheatreFestival #SunMustNotSet

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.