Joachim Keke: From Nigerian Stages to Bradford’s Civic Heartbeat

By Yinka Olatunbosun

In a year defined by cultural shifts and community reckonings, Nigerian multidisciplinary artist Joachim Keke has emerged as a vital force in Bradford’s theatre and dance landscape. Relocating his practice to the city, Joachim has transformed public spaces into arenas of shared action, blending performance with participation to spark dialogue on identity, mental health, and collective responsibility. As Bradford prepares to step onto the national stage as UK City of Culture 2025, his work offers not just entertainment but a blueprint for civic engagement through art.

“For me, performance is about hosting, not preaching,” Joachim reflects. “I want to create spaces where people feel safe to question, to share, and to imagine new ways of being together.”

Joachim’s UK debut came through Common Wealth Theatre’s Performance Collective, a paid programme for working-class and underrepresented artists creating political theatre. His breakthrough moment arrived with In Common (July 2024, Bradford), staged as an outdoor citizens’ assembly disguised as a cookout. Co-devised and performed by Joachim, the event invited audiences to eat, talk, and move together. Conversations around values unfolded beside sizzling grills, with movement woven between debates. The evening ended not with applause but with audience members making personal commitments to change — a striking shift from spectatorship to action. Accessibility was central: open seating, clear entry points, and an atmosphere that dissolved barriers between stage and street.

This ethos deepened in Still Waiting (October 2024, Girlington Community Centre), co-produced with the Bradford District & Craven Health and Care Partnership for World Mental Health Day. Here, Joachim and collaborators wove testimony into performance, guiding the room through grief and resilience without exploitation. A participant recalled: “It felt like my voice was part of the script. I left lighter, but also with a plan.” Keke acted as both performer and steward, showing how art can move seamlessly into civic practice.

In Identity (December 2024, Common Wealth Theatre), Joachim stepped into solo work. This dance piece explored the disorientation of arriving in a new country — angular, guarded movements gradually melting into gestures of curiosity and belonging. His physical precision avoided cliché autobiography, instead allowing the body’s language to carry the story. The work resonated deeply with audiences navigating migration, alienation, and homecoming.

Beyond his own stage practice, Joachim’s impact extends into youth development and collaboration. At Common Wealth’s Youth Lab, he co-directed segments of Brainstorm (March 2024), combining creative mentorship with pastoral care. “Working with young people isn’t about telling them what to perform,” he reflects. “It’s about giving them the tools to express their own truth.” Later that year, he freelanced with Parkview Theatre in collaboration with Northern Broadsides, as a youth theatre director on the project Iron people (December 2024, Halifax). This project equipped young performers with tools of play, structure, and storytelling, empowering them to share their visions with family audiences.

What ties these projects together is Joachim’s distinctive ethos of hosting over instruction. Whether guiding strangers through dialogue over shared meals, curating moments of collective reflection, or choreographing care in performance, his work insists that change begins in community.

As Bradford moves towards its City of Culture year, Joachim’s practice feels less like contribution and more like compass. His work points to an urgent truth: cultural celebration means little without cultural responsibility. In the deliberate act of looking after one another, his art reminds us, a city learns not just to perform but to transform.