Nina and Doga arrive at Adika's grave for the hair shaving ceremony and discover it has been burnt.

Jusper tells his parents he killed the man who burnt Adika's grave, but they dismiss it as delusion.

Soldiers Jere and Mulili arrive to stop the hair shaving ceremony on Boss's direct orders.

Nina threatens to strip herself naked to curse the soldiers if they refuse to leave.

Jere defies Boss's orders and allows the ceremony to continue, prompting Mulili to shoot at him.

Jere ends up imprisoned alongside Professor Mosese, who was arrested for defying the government.

Mosese explains to Jere how Nicodemus planted opium in his car to engineer his unjust arrest.

Tumbo asks Jusper to write a play to entertain a visiting head of state.

Tumbo suggests that Regina visit Boss directly to plead for Mosese's release from prison.

Mulili lies to Boss about Kabito's criticisms, and Boss immediately orders Kabito's assassination.

Jusper tells Tumbo he refuses to write the play after Boss attempted to rape Regina.

Mulili falsely tells Tumbo and Jusper that Kabito was killed in a hit and run accident.

Several prop guns go missing and Boss orders his police to surrender their real loaded weapons as substitutes.

During the performance, Jere and Mosese seize the real police guns and confront Boss in a standoff.

Jusper takes a gun and shoots Mulili dead, avenging the desecration of his brother's grave.

The play opens with Nina and Doga's discovery that their son Adika's grave has been burnt, triggering a confrontation with soldiers sent by Boss to stop the mourning ceremony. Jere, who defies Boss's orders to allow the ritual to continue, is shot at by Mulili and ends up imprisoned alongside Professor Mosese. Tumbo's decision to enlist Jusper to write entertainment for a visiting dignitary sets a trap in motion, as Regina's visit to Boss to seek Mosese's release ends in an assault that destroys any loyalty Jusper might have had. Mulili's assassination of Kabito and his brazen cover-up demonstrate how easily the government eliminates inconvenient people. Boss's fatal overconfidence at the rehearsal — ordering his own guards to surrender real firearms for the performance — hands his enemies the tools of his downfall. The pool concludes with the coup erupting during the play itself, and Jusper killing Mulili to avenge his brother's desecrated grave.

The headline events driving Kafira's revolution.

Adika is shot and killed by a police officer during a university student demonstration.

Jusper is jailed after confessing to Chachaga's murder, having been rescued from a lynching mob by police.

Mosese describes to Jere the plan for prisoners to perform a play for the visiting dignitary.

Askari brings Mosese a special tea, revealing how shared tribal ties grant small privileges in Kafira's prison.

Jusper visits Regina wearing a red gown, showing solidarity with university students protesting the government.

Jusper and Regina argue over whether to confront the government openly or to prioritize their own survival.

The entertainment committee meeting begins with Kabito found asleep and Nicodemus having arrived first.

The entertainment committee ignores official governance and spends most of the meeting debating how members will be paid.

Mulili and Kabito clash antagonistically with each other throughout the entertainment committee meeting.

Boss is first seen in his palace vainly plucking gray hairs to disguise any sign of aging.

Tumbo and Jusper discuss final preparations for the play, and Jusper's expulsion from university is revealed.

Boss tells Jusper he should be protected from all student criticism for writing the government's play.

Mulili distances himself from Boss during the armed standoff, insisting they are only distant cousins.

Boss demands Jere kill Mulili during the standoff, but Jere refuses, saying Kafira needs everyone.

The ghosts of Nina and Doga appear at the play's conclusion to mourn their lost son Adika.

This pool begins before the play's first scene, with Adika's killing at a student protest establishing the brutal stakes of life in Kafira. It traces the quieter paths of Jusper's imprisonment, Mosese's conversations in jail, and Jusper's passionate argument with Regina about whether open revolt or cautious survival is the wiser choice. The entertainment committee scenes reveal a government too corrupt and self-interested to perform even the most basic functions of governance, while Boss's vanity in his private chambers sets the tone for his myopic rule. As the performance nears, Jusper's expulsion from university shows the personal cost of any association with the regime, however reluctant. In the final standoff, Mulili's cowardly betrayal of Boss and Jere's refusal to execute anyone illustrate the full range of moral positions among those who serve the powerful. The pool closes with the haunting image of Nina and Doga's ghosts, a final reminder that ordinary people pay the highest price for political violence.

The hidden moments behind Kafira's collapse.

Nina and Doga proceed with the sacred hair shaving ceremony despite finding Adika's grave desecrated.

Nina and Doga send Jusper away to confess to Chachaga's killing, dismissing his account as fantasy.

Mosese reveals to Jere that he was arrested for breaking a government ban on speaking at a student's funeral.

Tumbo confirms to Regina and Jusper that a powerful head of state is planning a visit to Kafira.

Tumbo promises Jusper that his play will receive newspaper coverage in exchange for writing the government's entertainment.

Kabito arrives first at the committee meeting and falls asleep alone while waiting for the others.

Mulili reports to Boss that Kabito has been publicly blaming Kafira's economic failures on Boss's leadership.

Boss, enraged by Mulili's false report, orders Mulili immediately to carry out Kabito's assassination.

Jusper reveals to Tumbo that Boss attempted to rape Regina when she visited to seek Mosese's freedom.

It emerges that Boss has imprisoned his own wife for objecting to his assault on Regina.

Tumbo warns Jusper that refusing to write the play could bring deadly consequences down on him.

Prisoners begin rehearsing Jusper's play in Boss's palace under Tumbo and Jusper's supervision.

A prisoner falls ill during preparations and Boss naively volunteers to take the sick man's role.

Tumbo confides his fear to Jusper that Boss's volatile temper could turn the performance into catastrophe.

Jusper's secretly scripted coup is exposed mid-performance as the armed prisoners turn their weapons on Boss.

This pool traces the critical turning points of the story, beginning with the determination to honor Adika with the hair shaving ceremony despite the burnt grave, and the dismissal of Jusper as deluded that first underestimates him. Mosese's account of his arrest for defying a funeral speech ban, and Tumbo's confirmation of the dignitary visit, reveal how tightly Boss controls every public moment in Kafira. The entertainment committee scenes expose the machinery of corruption, from Kabito's unwitting solitary arrival to Mulili's poisonous lies to Boss, which result in an assassination ordered without a single moment of doubt. The revelation of Boss's assault on Regina — and the imprisonment of his own wife for protesting it — marks the moral low point of his reign and the moment Jusper's cooperation becomes impossible. In the final acts, Boss's decision to take a prisoner's role in the play and Tumbo's paralyzed fear show a man too arrogant to sense danger closing in around him. The exposure of Jusper's scripted coup mid-performance is the decisive revelation the entire play has been building toward.