| Baghdad Wedding | Company B |
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“In Iraq, a wedding is not a wedding unless shots get fired. It's like in England where a wedding is not a wedding unless someone pukes...that's just the way it goes.”
Molecular scientist Hassan Abdulrazzak queued with hundreds of fellow emigres in London to vote in Iraq’s first post-Hussein elections in 2005. When that great hope went belly-up, Hassan was inspired to write his first play, Baghdad Wedding. Company B are delighted to welcome Hassan and his inaugural work – a mesmerising insight into modern Iraq – to Belvoir St Theatre in February 2009.
Baghdad Wedding is the story of Salim and a group of his friends; Iraqi expats living in London. They drink, love, fight, sleep around, hope and contemplate the stars. Salim’s got a medical degree and he’s had an affair with a man (and written a successful novel about it), but now Saddam Hussein’s gone and Salim’s on his way home to get married. Or so he thought.
Transitioning between London and the Middle East, Salim and his friends wrestle with sex, culture and politics, and tumble between escaping and succumbing, as their beloved country staggers to her feet.
Writer Hassan Abdulrazzak, an Iraqi expat living in London, set up a family genealogy web site over a year ago. It currently has over 1,000 members, many of whom were born in Baghdad. Not one of them is left living in the Iraqi capital.
He says, “I sometimes wonder what the rest of the world makes of the unexpected influx of Iraqis that have come to settle amongst them. For many all they know of Iraqis comes through the nightly news and that hardly paints a flattering picture: looters, suicide bombers, religious fundamentalists and angry victims. Even our current ‘democratic’ leaders are hardly a source of pride being crippled as they are with stories of corruption and ineptitude.
“Yet there is much to celebrate in Iraqi culture. Iraq has produced some wonderful scientists, doctors, academics, architects, poets, painters, sculptors, musicians and writers. The nightly news, by its very nature, has little room for them. In Baghdad Wedding, they get centre stage.”
The admired young director Geordie Brookman (Disco Pigs, 4:48 Psychosis) is making his Upstairs debut after a successful season with Tender at Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre in 2007 and currently at the SBW Stables Theatre.
Geordie has gathered a remarkable and diverse cast, comprising Julia Billington (East West 101, The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet), Robert Mammone (Satisfaction, Carla Cametti P.D, Underbelly), Arky Michael (Small Poppies, All Saints, Romeo and Juliet), Yalin Ozucelik (Frost/Nixon, When The Rain Stops Falling, The Lost Echo), Osamah Sami (Lucky Miles, Terri and Azim, Trial of Saddam), Tahki Saul (Bumming with Jane, Out of the Blue, Game of Love and Chance), Melanie Vallejo (Mystic Forces Power Rangers, All Saints, Newton’s Cradle) and Ben Winspear (Frankenstein, Love Lies Bleeding, Now That Communism is Dead My Life Feels Empty). Osamah Sami is fluent in Arabic and Farsi.
Company B’s production of Baghdad Wedding is the Australian premiere.
"The kebab we had at last month's funeral was also good. Excellent, I'd say. What was that kid's name?"
The Prime Minister and his cabinet should take a brief course in political illumination. They should go to see Baghdad Wedding. Hot theatre. – The Evening Standard
We’ve heard all about the agonies of Baghdad before: the danger of so much as sleeping on the roof or looking out of the window, the atrocities…But here’s a play that will make you see and feel it afresh. – Times Online
Adulrazzak’s text is beautifully written, highly imaginative and emotionally true – it’s a great mix of anger, humour and poetry, spiced with a fine perception of the workings of the human heart. – Thestage.co.uk
Company B presents
Baghdad Wedding
by Hassan Abdulrazzak
Directed by Geordie Brookman
Set Designer: Robert Kemp
Lighting Designer: Niklas Pajanti
Composer and Sound Designer: Steve Francis
Costume Designer: Pip Runciman
Assistant Director: Rowan Marchingo
With: Julia Billington, Robert Mammone, Arky Michael, Yalin Ozucelik, Osamah Sami, Tahki Saul, Melanie Vallejo and Ben Winspear
Venue: Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills
Dates: 12 February – 22 March, 2009
Previews: Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 February 2009. All preview tickets $34
Opening night: Wednesday 11 February
Times: Tuesday 6.30pm, Wednesday to Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm & 8pm, Sunday 5pm.
Tickets: Full $56. Seniors (excluding Fri/Sat evenings) and Groups 10+ $46. Concession $34
Student Rush $25 for Tuesday 6.30pm and Saturday 2pm, available from 10am on the day (subject to availability)
Bookings: 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=28925579006
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