We Need New Stories is a series of 9 short new audio stories inspired by oral history interviews of Zimbabwean-born residents living in Nottingham.
Everyone featured in the oral histories were interviewed on camera in October 2022 by young people from the African diaspora. The resulting stories have been dramatised by playwright Zodwa Nyoni and recorded by actors.
You can view the original oral history interviews on each of the episode pages on Fifth Word's Website and in person at Nottingham Local Studies Library. The series also contains a bonus episode featuring an interview between playwright Zodwa Nyoni and director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour about the making of these audio stories.
All episodes are available for free on major listening platforms. Some stories contain sensitive subject matter including references to violence and racism.
This project has been supported by the National Lottery’s Heritage Fund, Nottingham Playhouse and The Space.
Welcome to Fifth Word's
We Need New Stories.
Episode One, Blessing's Story,
A Chitzungwiza Boy, written
by Zodwa Nyoni and directed
by Anastasia Osei-Kuffour.
One day I will be a
travelling troubadour.
Reciting Zimbabwean
memories of fractured
homelands of bread baskets
gone stale, of my people
burning money to stay warm.
One day I will be a travelling
troubadour door with tales
of boys becoming men in the
absence of their mother.
Bedtime stories of Robin
Hood were read over, long
distance phone calls,
prayers to be sent for become
fairy tales we questioned
would ever come true.
One day I will be a
travelling troubadour.
Who cross oceans
to join a tribe.
A tribe of displaced
immigrants will gather
in staff rooms on late
night shifts to perform
rituals of belonging.
Our tongues will bend and
stretch as we learn how to
call this foreign place home.
When day breaks and doubt
creeps in, we'll listen
to ancestors' wisdom,
whispering in the wind,
reminding us their resilience
strengthens our spines.
One day I will be a traveling
Troubador, shaking hands
with princes and paupers.
They'll gather and marvel
at this griot's melodies
not knowing their own own
magic is buried treasure,
waiting to be discovered.
One day I will be a
travelling troubador recalling
Chitungwiza boy on the
veranda, playing his mbira.
Dreaming of crowds
chanting his name
like a hero's welcome.
The man he's yet to become
is a mystery to him, but his
legacy, songs his children
will inherit as heirlooms
when his aged body has
been returned to the earth.
Thank you for listening.
The next episode in this
series is Ken's story.
The Karate Master
son has big dreams.