Patrice Naiambana doesn't talk. He roars. It is easy to imagine why the Royal Shakespeare Company cast him as Aslan in their annual Christmas showing of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Patrice is a lion of a man; an impressive figure with a booming voice. And with the tenacity of a lion, when it comes to social justice, you get the impression that Patrice will fight to the death.

Patrice performed his one-man show The Man Who Committed Thought for free in Warwick's Chaplaincy last Monday. The performance had scooped an Edinburgh Fringe First Award in 1999 and has been performed intermittently ever since. Set in postcolonial Sierra Leone, referred to in the play as Lion Mountain, Patrice primarily follows the journey of an African lawyer that loves the Queen and Shakespeare whilst he deals with a case brought forward by an honest peasant who seeks justice against an African dictator that took his cow.

The show is a tool to trigger discussion between cultures. Every performance is followed by a talk with questions from the audience. Patrice is "interested in the silences and knowledge gaps that we have with each other and the whole issue of difference and difference conflict". He uses theatre as a shared space in which people can discuss and attempt to make sense of the issues of the day. The Man Who Committed Thought takes a kaleidoscopic look at colonialism, the World Bank, the United Nations, poverty, aid, the arms trade, conflict and the difficulties of understanding another culture. I couldn't wait to meet the man behind such an ambitious and provocative project.

Patrice has huge, expressive, wide eyes that betray a child trapped in an adult body. His voice is curiously chameleonic and changes according to subject. It can be deep African, or slip into cockney. He also laughs with abandon and launches into myriad impressions. He was born in Ghana and his movement around the Diaspora started from there. His father was in the RAF and met Patrice's mother in Britain during World War Two. His mother is originally from Bermuda. Patrice's father is the guiding figure in his life and dictated the incredible journey of the family. Patrice recounts that from Ghana, his father took the family as "he went back to help in Sierra Leone, then he wanted to give us some opportunity so we moved out, then he wanted us to experience black culture so we went to the West Indies. It was his very forward thinking. He would save his money to give us that experience specifically so we could see different sides of the world. It gave me that peripheral vision".

Patrice's peripheral vision made him aware of how little various countries understood about each other. There were knowledge gaps in the coverage provided by television and radio. When the war happened in Sierra Leone Patrice was in Britain and he realised, "people really don't understand. You just see poverty, hunger, war and these are the images of Africa, but having lived there I know that that's quite simplistic. Yes it's true that there are those terrible dilemmas and challenges but there's also the human dimension. There is multidimensionality to that experience with people overcoming it, people resisting it. I realised that if we knew a little bit more about each other's stories we might be able to create bits of understanding as artists".

The idea of sharing history and sharing stories led Patrice to learn about Griot, a West African oral tradition. "Griot is a French word that means 'the storyteller'. The Griot is an incredible improviser, raconteur, selector of parables, and musician. He holds the life history of a village or community in his head. They are trained from when they're very young. They know the genealogy of families, the community's catastrophes, victories, and great celebrations. They have a very, very special and valuable position because they hold the stories of the community. They would be called upon at specific events like marriages, christenings, or births. They knew if there was a bit of madness on one side of a family. There was also occasion for them to be called upon as diplomats. They will intertwine different narratives depending on how diplomatic they needed to be or how very direct they needed to be. So they could go back into their computer brain and go, 'on this occasion I need to tell you that in 1506 such and such a thing happened and this is what happened'. The Griot would use a mixture of parables. He could improvise. I use it as an inspiration for my practice".

The value of Griots seems especially important in a society where we are becoming increasingly atomised and focussed on individualism. The Griot held the lessons of local history and offered a cohesive group identity, knowledge and self-awareness. I asked Patrice how he could apply the benefits of Griot tradition to a divided Britain. Patrice confesses that he started this work twenty years ago and "with this naïve idea that 'theatre can bring people together' and as I came to England I realised 'oh, but there's all sorts of people here and they don't know each other that well'". Patrice chuckles deeply at this. But he also tells, ironically, how he learnt about the Griot tradition in Britain. "This is my point. All these things are very accessible here, there's no reason for us to sustain our individual cubby holes".

Aged 21, Patrice returned to Sierra Leone and struggled to understand the situation there. "It used to be a very thriving country with great prospects. It started going downhill and yet it's so incredibly blessed with natural resources. So by the age of 21 I was asking big questions, going 'Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?' and that took me to slavery and colonialism. I began to wonder what were the causes? Why would a place be like this when it has so much? What was the relationship between the West and Africa? I just started questioning and the more I asked I realised the more I didn't know and didn't understand. At that time we had the highest infant mortality rate in the world, we also had the third largest number of Mercedes Benz per square mile in the world. And I could see that. I started keeping a journal of my thoughts because I didn't know what else to do. I was interested in philosophy, in human nature, social justice but I didn't know if you could make a job out of those interests. So for a few years I just floundered".

The floundering was interrupted when Patrice met an actress from Sierra Leone who had returned to reacquaint herself with her homeland. She invited Patrice to watch a rehearsal and he bore witness to live dilemmas jumping off the page. "All the things I was thinking about were there and I was quite fascinated. Then someone dropped out the play, not a lead character but quite an important character, and the director turned round and said 'I think you'd be good'. So I found myself on stage in front of the British Council". That play went on tour and when it ended Patrice was left with a vital experience that made him believe in theatre as a tool for learning.

'The Man Who Committed Thought' confronts people with an unequal and unjust world. When faced with the fact that millions are starving, the bottom line is that first of all, people must be fed. Patrice swells with purpose on this subject. "People need to eat. Why should I eat and you don't eat? It's fundamental. What the hell is so difficult about feeding some people and getting them to help themselves? I don't understand it. I mean, I'm a storyteller obviously, I'm not an economist but I will have to get into little creative ways of even making those things make sense. I mean actually going into the World Bank. I don't know how you make a drama out of the World Bank but I think it's important. Most of us vote and we are quite distant from the way the world actually runs. We need informed democracy. A good friend of mine, Dr Rita Abrahamsen wrote a book called 'Disciplining Democracy'. It's a fantastic title. I've been looking at how performance can tackle these issues. I know all writers have this desire to reach and touch and move. I know that but I really feel that we need to be a bit more urgent about it". He is so brimming with urgency that he allows himself a bellow of incredulous laughter. "I think we can optimise the progress that's been made. I think we can optimise the goodwill that every human being naturally shares about these situations. But how to optimise that? Are we really doing enough? Are we too comfortable?"

Patrice is not a man to shy away from the difficult questions. When I ask how we can optimise goodwill and press for change, he emphasises humble beginnings. "Start with yourself. That's where all change starts. You begin to know yourself, check yourself, and to try and be the best possible person you can be. And that starts your journey. Where can I contribute, how can I contribute? Who can help you? It's important to constantly evaluate your motives. I change every day. Am I not in need of change? Does this work not apply to me? Do you see what I mean? So at least I can effect my immediate environment".

Knowing that Patrice has worked on his show for ten years, I wonder how he motivates himself to keep going when the world can appear so bleak. Patrice nods knowingly, "It's quite a journey. It's hard. When you see me cry on stage it's real. How do you keep going? I don't know. I've been thinking like this for 20 years now, and then there's the issue of making a living. There is merit to the journey however arduous. Although you do run into potential burn-out. I'm 46 now and I'm tired. I could have an easier life. My agent just wants me to do television and I've got a young family. You have to have people to encourage you. But it's a lonely journey, there's no way round that. The hard moments make you test yourself. Am I still there or am I kidding myself or am I being pretentious? I dare say Mandela felt all those things, but hang on to what you think is right if you've got that burning in you. Sometimes the system burns you out, and when you get to those points then you do feel tired, and then you're in a bad mood and then you feel misunderstood. You can feel seriously misunderstood".

I wonder where Patrice finds his strength to keep going and his father looms large in this. "My Dad was somebody who was very serious about pursuing social justice for people like Mamadou". Mamadou is the peasant in Patrice's play and Patrice's father fought cases for deprived people. One of the bowler hats Patrice uses in his show belonged to his father. "He told me about great African leaders like Patrice Lumumba, who I was named after, who was the first Prime Minister of the Congo. He was assassinated by guess who?" I can't answer Patrice at the time, but it emerges that the West, notably Belgium and America played a part. "There were lots of very big fantastic leaders at the beginning of independence who really wanted to do the right thing for Africa but the West were not happy so they hindered them in the whole tennis match of the Cold War. A lot of serious people got removed and we have a bunch of dictators now and the institutionalised corruption that has gone with it. Also my Dad used to just tell me stories of incredibly inspiring figures from Africa's past. They were always stories about integrity and courage which I didn't learn in school".

Such stories of individuals sustain Patrice, a converted Christian. "I mean Jesus went around trying to do good man and look what happened to him, you see what I'm saying? It does help knowing that this man went around healing people, trying to love and trying to teach and feed and do nothing but good and he got vilified. Never mind the crucifixion, people just gave him a HARD time. I mean, so what if he's saying he's the son of God, you think he's crazy then just leave him. What the hell is the issue? He's doing good things, he's not doing any harm. I do get a bit of strength from Christ's example".

When we return to the question of motivating people and galvanising political will to enable social justice, Patrice has more mentors. "I used to read a lot of Martin Luther King. I used to read about a lot of inspirational people who DID move people. People that stepped into that arena. Look at those guys, look at what they did, how they did it, what motivated them, the journey, the ups and downs that they went through. Have you seen Malcolm X? It's sort of in the black context but it's about a man that goes on a journey. Malcolm didn't start out like that. Malcolm was a thief and a hoodlum who ended up in jail. But he changed his thinking, he re-evaluated and then came back into the fray. And then they bumped him off. People are always trying. Taking time out to reflect is very, very important. Look at other people who tried and see what they said".

In his show Patrice makes reference to Blair's recent speech calling for the black community to speak out about black gun crime. I'm interested in how Patrice feels about this. "I always like to not judge people immediately. It's too easy to jump on Tony. I'm not saying he might not deserve it but he's given us a challenge. As a performer my reaction is to put it in the mouth of a racist, just put it in that character and see how it sounds, because it can be taken out of context". Patrice adopts a South African voice and impersonates, "That's the trouble with you people. It's your culture. You're violent". Patrice then extends the logic, "so there's a good violence and there's a bad violence and you don't do the bad violence. I'm not trying to defend the thing, but his implication means that we are not neighbours, it means that I am not neighbour to you. That means that you really don't know me, you have not really valued me, that you don't really interact with me, that my pain is not your pain. For Tony to say that makes black culture separate from the rest of culture. Black culture's everywhere, everybody's into black culture. Black culture has influenced global culture big time. His kids listen to rap. Kids walk with their trousers down. That is from black culture, so that's kind of shared culture now isn't it?"

Mostly Patrice is saddened to hear the efforts of others undervalued. "Do you know how many of us have been tackling that issue in communities for how long? I know because I spent time in those places, I have friends ensconced in that battle who have refused to go to London and get good jobs. I've been asked to meet the kids in Handsworth. I did a play about the Broadwater Riots in Tottenham. I remember black culture and the arts engaging with these issues. If you had more people being more honest with our stories and we were more visible with our stories. To come out at the end with a statement like that means that he hasn't learnt anything in ten years being as smart as he is. Do you think all those mothers that have their children killed are not doing things about it? Do you think the church community are not doing things about it? I've lived in Chapeltown in Leeds and there are hundreds of people on the front foot trying to deal with things there and I've seen it with my own eyes. I met a guy in Sheffield who ran a Saturday school for twenty years. The staff were unpaid but they opened every Saturday to everybody, but predominantly for African and Afro-Caribbean students. It was voluntary. I was absolutely flabbergasted. There are hundreds of people like that up and down the country".

Patrice has spent the past week at Warwick running a prolonged workshop that uses Othello as a text to provoke intercultural dialogue. "Shakespeare is like a lingua franca. If Shakespeare's so universal, why not make different voices come alive within the space of Shakespeare?" Patrice told Othello's story with drums, shakers and in a foreign tongue. "I begun to see parallels between the richness of Shakespeare's work and the potential richness that we have aesthetically and culturally in Britain today. There's like 300 languages spoken in this country". Patrice seems to have enjoyed his time at Warwick; "the area of teaching and education is sometimes an area where you can find respite. Being able to do this here makes me think 'ah great, I'm not mad'".