23:00, Wed 26th – Sat 29th November 2008 at ADC Theatre
Michaelmas Week 7

"My guide was trying to persuade me to buy his cousin’s leather goods but across the square I could see a crowd of people gathered round a kind of stage. As I approached I saw four policemen on the stage and one man with his hands behind his back. As soon as I saw the rope around his neck I started to walk away. I imagined I’d be able to hear the snap of his spine but all I heard was the crowd roar."

The son and daughter of a diplomat walk across the courtyard of their new house to meet their new stepmother. The children are divided in their experience of the foreign culture: one is repulsed, the other seduced. Soon an illicit love affair, imminent war, and the destruction of a sacred tree threaten the fragile tranquility of the courtyard.

Developed as part of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and awarded the Marlowe Society/ RSC Other Prize (2008), this is an eloquent and exciting piece of political theatre.