The production Palace of the End by renowned playwright Judith Thompson has been nominated for the Amnesty International Award and rightfully so. This play is about the Iraq War and its effect on three individuals - two of them well known to us. However, it is not a docu-drama. Judith Thompson works with facts and transmutes them into a world of the imagination. Seen from three different perspectives including a female American soldier facing court-martial for torture and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, a British former UN Weapons Inspector exposed as a source for the BBC and an Iraqi mother and political leader who suffered the greatest loss imaginable at the hands of Saddam Hussein this production will stay with you for a long time.  

Kellie Bright reprises her role as Lynndie - a frightened, racist bigot who hates ugly people, prays to her American God and compares herself to Joan of Arc because she "took the fall" for Abu Ghraib. She plans to go to Quebec in exile like Napoleon and then return an American hero! David Kelly is again played by Robert Demeger. Mortally wounded he does not want to be found before he is dead. He had been thrown to the wolves for disclosing the truth about the WMD situation in Iraq to the BBC. David, severely depressed and tormented, feels like Prometheus: "You can only defeat them by disappearing." The third monologue is spoken by an Iraqi mother and political leader (played by Eve Ploycarpou) who was captured by the secret service of the Baath party along with her sons and taken to their headquarters  - the Palace of the End. She sees Saddam as the embodiment of evil - "Some Iraqis think he is not mortal." There was hope when Saddam's government was overthrown but the American troops and "their murderous puppets" turned into monsters.  

This is a very important play and the acting is outstanding. I advise everyone to see it.  
(Carolin Kopplin)

Aug 5 to 30, Traverse Theatre
Tel: 0131 228 1404