blood.claat tells the story of 15 year-old Mudgu SanKofa's coming of age in Kingston, Jamaica, addressing social issues concerning women, relationships, family, self-knowledge, self-esteem and courage.  Mudgu comes to terms with gender, class, race and sexuality through her developing relationship with her own blood.  The inevitable nature of cycles simultaneously represents the resistance to colonial oppression, a ceremonial dance, a liberashun chant and a dub poem.

blood.claat is the first of a trilogy entitled three faces of mudgu followed by androgyne and chronicles in dub.

blood.claat was first presented in workshop form at the New York City Hip Hop Festival 2004.  The following year a full production directed by Weyni Mengesha was produced at Theatre Passe Muraille (Toronto, Canada) in the 05-06 season as part of the Stage 6 festival produced by TPM and Obsidian Theatre.  The Stage 6 festival was a cluster of nine new works by emerging artists representing different cultural communities.

blood.claat was nominated for five Dora Awards and won two for Outstanding Performance and Outstanding New Play in 2006, and then went on to representing Canada at the International AIDS Conference XVI. Recently, the show has been produced in Montreal (presented by Black Theatre Workshop), in Victoria at the UNO Festival and in Vancouver as part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival.

For information regarding Licensing and/or Production availability for blood.claat please use the form below, or use our contact page.

"Imaginative and Superbly Tight" - The National Post (Toronto/National, Canada)

"Powerful Piece... Terrific celebration of the strength and achievement of black women" - XTRA! (Toronto, Canada)

"Brilliantly written and performed by the intriguingly named d'bi.young.anitafrika, blood.claat is a funny, powerful, moving story of a young Jamaican woman who struggles with many traumas and ultimately triumphs over them...The beautiful acting is accompanied by reggae and African rhythms as d'bi.young brings her substantial skills as a dub poet to the stage. With tightly woven direction by Weyni Mengesha, this Theatre Passe Muraille production represents some of the best work being done in Toronto." - Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, Canada)

"young is a charistmatic performer who channels her fierce intensity into each of the dozen sharply differentiated characters she plays." ***** (5 Stars) - Eye Weekly (Toronto, Canada)

"d'bi young's infectious spirit energizes this tale about symbolic power of blood" - NOW Magazine (Toronto, Canada)

"blood.claat is a gripping example of how Canada's cultural mosaic is rich with stories that are first drawn from other places and then filtered through our amazing arts community...an intense burst of theatre, about 100 minutes of incredibly accomplished stagecraft." - Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, Canada)

"In blood.claat, writer and performer d'bi.young makes herself into a living novel; the world and the characters that she summons are just that rich, satisfying, and transporting." - The Georgia Straight (Vancouver, Canada)