Playwrights find inspiration in Iraqi quagmire

A new play about Iraq, with an impressive cast, opened last night, while another had its run extended yesterday and at least half a dozen more productions are on their way.

The continuing carnage is increasingly being addressed here in the same way that Vietnam once inspired the US.

Related articles

• War tops shortlist for non-fiction prize
• Search the news archive for more stories

Fallujah, the latest theatre project starring Harriet Walter and Imogen Stubbs, with music by Nitin Sawheny, deals with the siege of the town in 2005 which became a bloody and iconic symbol of occupation, insurgency and destruction in "liberated" Iraq.

Also opening last night was What Andrew Heard, the Andrew being the BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, whose report on the Today Programme questioning the claim that Iraqi forces could hit British targets in 45 minutes started the chain of events which led to the death of David Kelly, the Hutton Inquiry and resignation of the BBC's chairman and director general.

Meanwhile Called To Account. The Indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair For The Crimes of Aggression Against Iraq - A Hearing, has been granted an extra three weeks at the Tricycle Theatre in London.

These productions follow Black Watch, about the Black Watch regiment which was sent to Camp Dogwood to provide back up for the Americans during the Fallujah siege. Channel 4's docu-drama, The Mark of Cain, about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British troops, was broadcast this month.

Fallujah is written and directed by the theatre director Jonathan Holmes, who began working on the project after attending a seminar organised by the peace activist Scilla Elworthy in 2005 addressing how Iraq had descended into a state in anarchy.

Ms Elworthy, thrice-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, visited Iraq before and after the invasion. The play's dialogue is based on her interviews with dozens of Iraqis, British and Americans. She said: "Some of us saw from the beginning how badly things were unravelling and then it just got worse and worse. Fallujah was one of the critical moments of the conflict. The seminar we had was under Chatham House rules and I was gratified by the seniority and experience of the people who turned up and I am glad that it played such a part in starting this production."

The sets have been designed by Lucy and Jorge Orta and are also to be used as an exhibition.

Dr Holmes said: "Some of us are giving our services for free and others are just charging Equity rates... We want to show that Iraq matters, we cannot ignore what is going on there every day."

One of the Iraqi characters is based on Sami Velioglu, who regularly travels from his home in Bristol to take part in conflict resolution in Kirkuk. He said: "For every action there is a reaction, and this concentration on Iraq is a reaction to what has happened there... These plays and films are tremendously important for the British people to know how the people of Iraq are living and dying."

Theatre's voices of protest

* "Fallujah" Based on interviews with people involved in the siege of Fallujah by US forces. Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, east London until 2 June.

* "Called To Account - The Indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair For The Crimes of Aggression Against Iraq - A Hearing" Diplomats, polticians and MPs are "witnesses" in the trial of Tony Blair. Tricycle Theatre, north-west London on an extended run until 9 June.

* "What Andrew Heard And The 45 Minutes That Changed Everything" The events following journalist Andrew Gilligan's claim on the BBC's Today programme that the Blair government knew that one of the key claims about Saddam Hussein's supposed WMD threat was false. Tabard Theatre, west London until 27 May.