Ngugi is interested in the notion of 'performance space' and its multidimensional meanings and applications. State censorship in colonies by means of manipulating the arts, especially theater and the performing arts at large, aims at blurring the differences between the indigenous people and the colonists. In his discussion of the term, Ngugi illustrates the example of the National Theater of Kenya. He juxtaposes the artist with the state, pointing out that, for the artist, 'performance space' is a space of freedom of expression without limitations, while it constitutes a filed of confinement and regulations for the state. He also proposes that the notion of 'performance space' should be contested against the contexts of geography, time and history. Censorship has been a recurrent and much disputed issue in the field of performance studies, especially in a postcolonial context.
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