What I Heard About Iraq

4:07pm Wednesday 18th April 2007

Thursday, April 26, Rondo Theatre, Bath.

Do you need to think more carefully about one of the biggest political events of recent times? Don't miss What I Heard About Iraq, a startling and spellbinding performance at The Rondo Theatre.

The hard-hitting sell-out Los Angeles and Edinburgh Festival Fringe First winning stage adaptation of What I Heard About Iraq is showing at The Rondo for one night only.

Director Andy Burden saw the show on the Edinburgh Fringe and knew he wanted to bring it to Bath.

"This performance is utterly riveting and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it at The Rondo," he said.

"I am a huge fan of political theatre which has been out of fashion in recent times and am very excited by its re-emergence in this outstanding show."

What I Heard About Iraq employs direct quotes from politicians, military chiefs, soldiers, and Iraqi citizens to reveal the unfolding human story behind the US led invasion of Iraq.

In the words of Simon Levy, who has adapted the show from an article in the London Review of Books, the play is "neither fiction nor speculation; it takes audiences into the war and confronts them with the human drama, the human toll. It is not about history, or about something going on over there. It is about what's going on right now, and how people worldwide are (and are not) reacting to it."

In a brief 60 minutes, a team of five British and American actors lead us through a roughly chronological sequence of statements about Iraq made by western leaders over the last half-decade, each one prefaced with the devastating, distancing words, "I heard".

Stunning photographs provide a constantly changing backdrop to the cast of five, and the show is directed by Hannah Eidinow, who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, at the Royal Court, and previously achieved Edinburgh success with Fringe First winner Gone in 2004, which transferred into the West End.

Tickets from Bath Festivals Box Office, Abbey Green (01225) 463362.