Guántanamo to Play 45 Bleecker in August
Assembled by Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo and directed by Nicolas Kent and Sacha Wares, Guantánamo was commissioned from an idea by Kent by London's Tricycle Theatre in January 2004. The five British Guantánamo detainees, whose interviews are the centerpiece of the play, were released in late February. Their interviews were conducted at the end of March and beginning of April 2004.
The show opened at the Tricycle Theater in northern London in May, quickly sold out, and recently moved to the West End, where it began previews at the New Ambassadors Theatre on June 16. Raymond Whitaker of The Independent wrote of the show: "There are moments of grim farce as the personal accounts are interlaced with information about the 'war on terror'--suicide attempts in Guantanamo appeared to have fallen sharply, for example, until it emerged that they had simply been redefined as 'manipulative self-harming behaviour.' Britain's complicity in this denial of justice is not neglected; we are reminded that we have our own indefinite detainees at Belmarsh prison in south-east London. Given the material, there is no need for histrionic acting. The facts literally speak for themselves. What struck me, at the end of an evening, which left one stirred, questioning, and with a sense that one could no longer seek refuge in ignorance, was that this was what Bertolt Brecht was trying to achieve with his theories of theatrical alienation. If Brecht was alive today, here is the kind of play he would write."
The theater at 45 Bleecker Street is currently home to Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel, which will end its acclaimed run on August 15. William Hamilton's White Chocolate is expected to occupy the venue in the fall.