Safe Haven at Arcola centres diplomats while Kurdish experience remains peripheral

Safe Haven, a historical drama by Chris Bowers about the 1991 Kurdish uprising in Iraq, is playing at the Arcola Theatre in London until 7 February. Bowers is a former British diplomat in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The production foregrounds diplomats: a Whitehall contingent, an Iraqi diplomat Al-Tikriti, and British figures Clive and Catherine who supply much of the political detail of the story — 'what with the transition from Margaret Thatcher to John Major', as the play puts it. The reviewer says Bowers' experience lends authenticity to the debates at the heart of the crisis, but that authenticity does not make for engaging drama.

Scenes shift between Whitehall, press conferences, Clive’s garden and the mountains, but the staging is judged functional and expository rather than dramatic. Characters are described as paper thin and some performances stilted: Clive is called dull, Catherine generic, and Al-Tikriti a mouthpiece, while Anne provides most of the play's emotional impetus.

The terror faced by Kurds is mainly represented by Najat (Eugenie Bouda), her companion (played by Lisa Zahra) and Najat’s brother, a doctor, refugee and, it seems, activist who reaches the British diplomatic corps to appeal to Catherine. The review argues this overlooked episode of Iraq's history deserves more drama, emotion and political complexity on the ground.

Key Topics

Culture, Safe Haven, Chris Bowers, Arcola Theatre, Kurds, Operation Safe Haven