Talking To Terrorists
Image: Photo: John Keenan
This is a verbatim play, which means that everything that is said on stage was said in real-life, taken from a series of interviews and recreated on stage.
Writer Robin Soans interviewed people from around the world who had been affected by or involved in terrorism. It includes stories from around the world including Africa, Israel and Palestine, Iraq, Turkey and also the British Establishment.
Some of the people interviewed include members of the IRA, including one person who was responsible for planting the Brighton bomb. Members of the Kurdish Workers Party, which is listed as a terrorist group with recruits as young as 12 turned into terrorists at the age of 16, a former Ugandan child soldier and a British Archbishop who was held hostage in Lebanon.
The play was written well before the time of ISIS, but according to director Markus Weber, “everything in the play makes it clear why IS can happen and why it’s not long gone”.
“Fighting or terrorism is rooted in situations where people are threatened to lose their freedom, to lose their way of living, to lose their ability to speak,” Weber says.
“If you don’t listen, if you don’t speak, if you don’t negotiate, if you don’t want to be aware of where those things actually come from and then try to change what creates those things you end up with terrorism,” he says.
The play advocates that resolving terrorism will never be with violence but with peaceful negotiations and dialogue.
Until June 3, Tue-Sat 7.30pm. King Street Theatre, 644 King St & Cnr Bray St, Newtown. $22-$35. Tickets & Info: www.kingstreettheatre.com.au
By Vanessa Powell.
