Forty years after their liberation from Egypt, the children of the Wilderness are still unable to get to the Promised Land, and so they are not ready to present their story of glory. They are mired in corruption and inertia, and their mother is on her deathbed with a strange debilitating disease. There is renewed hope that their story may be complete when the Pharaoh's daughter invites Manacles, the leader of the Wilderness family, to a dancing competition. What follows is a high stakes drama of betrayal and manipulation to win the princess' heart and a struggle by the children of the Wilderness to assert their sovereignty and capture the rat without a tail.
Joseph Murungu announced his entry onto the theatrical stage by scripting the winning play at the 1988 Kenya National Drama Festivals while still a high school student. He has since been a dominant force at the annual fete. He graduated with a Bachelor of Education (Linguistics and Literature) from the University of Nairobi and has taught drama in a number of schools in Kenya. This is his first published play.