| Antonia Facts | NAME: Antonia Bell
FESTIVAL LIKE: Discovering new talent on my doorstep
FESTIVAL DISLIKE: That they cancelled the Mile of Bric-a-Brac!
ALL TIME FAVE SHOW: Bob Dylan. Maybe one day…
MY BEST KEPT SECRET: Astral travel is one of my favourite pastimes. |
What I Heard About Iraq is a powerful piece of verbatim theatre, adapted from Eliot Weinberger’s London Review of Books article. The talented cast of five play a variety of roles’ citing Bush, Blair, Rumsfeld and Rice, to army boys, Iraqi civilians and newspaper headlines. The narrative took us from the first Gulf War to today, highlighting the contradictions of the politicians versus the reality of those fighting and living in Iraq.
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It would be fair to assume an hour of quotes and facts presented chronologically, each preempted by “I heard Bush or Blair or an Iraqi boy say...” would become static after a minute or two. But the excellent stage direction of Hannah Eidinow and ability of the actors to seamlessly switch roles kept the attention of the audience throughout. The props were minimal. The cast sat on Perspex boxes filled with rubble, bullets and newspapers with a backdrop showing images of Bush, Blair and Iraqi casualties. The simple set allowed for effective use of body language and sound effects. Overall the delivery was clear, not over dramatized, and the impact emotive. The cast brought the realities of this catastrophic war to the audience in a way unattainable through media. The only disappointment was the poor turnout. | 
