Title: Bread and Butter (Based on The Culture of Bread)

Age Group: 7+

Concept & Director: Joshua Alabi
Theatre Pedagogy: Michael Pietsch

Organisations/Partners: Kininso Koncepts Lagos & Hessisches Landestheater Marburg

From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the phrase “Bread and Butter” held a special meaning in Nigeria, symbolising simplicity, unity, and harmony. It expressed closeness, love, and shared belief. Over time, that reality has shifted, bread has become smaller, butter has disappeared from many tables, and what was once a daily meal has become less accessible for many.

In contrast, across Europe, bread remains widely available, served freely, present at every table, and deeply rooted in everyday life. This contrast opens up a quiet but important question: how can something so basic carry such different meanings depending on where you are?

Bread and Butter is a performance that explores these differences and connections through music, movement, and sound. Drawing from both Nigerian and European contexts, the piece looks at bread not just as food, but as memory, routine, and a marker of access. From Agege bread to fruit bread, coconut bread to dark rye loaves, the performance brings together textures, stories, and shared experiences.

The stage shifts between a home, a bakery, a market, and a dining table, built through simple props, live and recorded sound, and physical storytelling. Audiences are invited into familiar moments; preparing food, sharing meals, waiting, remembering, while the work gently reflects on hunger, change, and what it means to have enough.

Developed through an intercultural collaboration and created in residence in Marburg, Germany, Bread and Butter is a finished production and currently available for touring.

Premiere (HLTM, Marburg):
May 16 — 3:00 PM & 5:00 PM

Additional Performance (HLTM, Marburg):
May 17 — 3:00 PM