Alex Mukulu, a Ugandan playwright, actor, director and author whose socially and politically engaged theatre reached local and international audiences, died Aug. 15, 2026, at 72, New Vision reported.
His first play, Muzukulu wa Kabangala, was produced in 1977. His 1992 play 30 Years of Bananas debuted in Kampala during celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of Uganda’s independence and became a popular satire about the country’s post-independence history. Mukulu wrote and staged more than 30 plays.
In 1994, Mukulu led the Kampala-based theatre company Impact International in a Washington performance of The Guest of Honor, a social drama about the expulsion and later return of Asians under and after Idi Amin’s rule. In 2007, his production Journey to Self-Realization was performed at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, a gathering of Commonwealth leaders, in Kampala.
After a 17-year break from the stage, Mukulu returned in 2024 with Kulunkalu ne Kulumbisi, a free National Theatre production. It adapted Romeo and Juliet to Ugandan language, culture and contemporary social divisions. Mukulu directed the play and performed as its storyteller.
