The Collector written by Henry Naylor in 2014 is his first play in the ‘Arabian Nightmares Trilogy’. The play won an Edinburgh Fringe First award in 2014, subsequently transferred to London and then toured. This production is brought by The B Collective whose mission is to put ‘diverse stories and women centre stage’. Ellie Hurt fresh from her success in directing Gerry Smyth’s ‘Murder Ballads’ directs the award- winning play set in Mazrat Gaol, an American led allied forces occupied prison in Iraq.
What the small cast of three lacked in size, they made up for in talent in a story-telling feast. The Hope Street Theatre space is transformed into a four-sided seating area that creates an immediate feeling of intimacy. A simple set, designed by Rachel Jones, of a brightly-lit square plinth takes centre stage. It could be a boxing ring without the ropes but it’s too low. Lighting, designed by Ellen Butterworth-Evans, is an integral part of this Arabian story setting mood and time of day and there were bright spots on the audience as we enter.ed Already, we felt under interrogation so when the first character, an Iraqi woman Zoya (Jennifer Varda) stepped up, the audience was fully focused. It’s now clearly a platform with people waiting to speak. Zoya looked a small and lonely figure at first, until she spoke, and we heared the voice of a strong woman with a powerful tale. There was a sense of sitting in a Bedouin tent as Zoya directly addressed the audience, making eye contact and working each side of the room. Zoya told us that we are going to hear a story ‘in the land of Turkish delight, Arabian nights and…Saddam Hussein’.
Set in 2003 with the US invasion of Iraq, Zoya’s boyfriend Nassir who loves Western pop music that is banned as being subversive gets a job as a translator for the US allied army interrogators. A huge step up for him financially and in line with his ideals for a more liberal country everything goes well until Nassir is recognised by Faisal, a new prisoner and leader and supporter of the old regime. We learnt alternately through Zoya, Colonel ‘Kasper’ Kasprowicz (Reginald Edwards) now in charge of Mazrat prison (where 100,000 people died under Saddam’s rule) and young female Sergeant Foster (Kathryn McGurk) that internal relations are tense. Instead of bombing the prison, the occupying military have taken it over as a centre for detention and interrogation. The guards were as equally detained inside as the prisoners as tours of duty were extended without notice and pressure was being put on them by their own fighting troops to look after the prisoners ‘really well’. The guards became more and more like their enemy as they ‘interrogated’ the prisoners before turning on each other. Nassir was caught between two worlds that seemingly will never reconcile and under threat from Faisal reacted with tragic consequences.
The one act seventy-five-minute play runs without an interval as each of the cast take to the stage with equal intensity. The acting is universally sublime with perfect pitch. The story captures the treatment of the prisoners and the army with clarity and credibility. At first appearing to be unrelated, the cast create vivid images as their stories interweave. They interact with their listeners without ever making the audience uncomfortable as they command attention and bring the horror of war into stark reality. It’s like a modern-day anti-war movie ‘Platoon’. At the end we are friends who have lived through a shared experience. It is powerful and enlightening. As Maya Angelou said: ‘people will never forget how you made them feel.’
Reviewer - Barbara Sherlockon - 10/11/18
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