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Dateline: 12th October, 2005
A politically sensitive play (based upon interviews and accounts given to the Feltham Young Offenders Institute Inquiry), Gladiator Games, will take the stage at Theatre Royal Stratford East from Wednesday 2nd November.
This dramatisation of the actual events surrounding the Zahid Mubarek case traces the Mubarek family's pursuit of the truth behind Zahid's death in Feltham. Written by Tanika Gupta and directed by Charlotte Westenra, Gladiator Games is a joint production with Sheffield Theatres.
The title Gladiator Games comes from the known practice whereby Prison Officers set up potentially violent situations and place bets on the outcome. Did the prison officers knowingly place Zahid in a cell with a racist? Why did the then Home Secretary David Blunkett initially refuse to meet the family or hold a public inquiry? The play raises these issues and encourages the audience to reach its own conclusions whilst engaging in the debate about the way the prison service is run.
"This play asks why, shortly before his release, Zahid was placed in a cell with a violent racist," says Kerry Michael, artistic director of Theatre Royal. "It is an important play about a murder committed against a young man from east London." A discussion will follow every evening performance, with a panel of invited experts and guests.
Charlotte Westenra trained at The Donmar Warehouse where she assisted Michael Grandage on Grand Hotel and Henry IV. Other assisting work includes Bloody Sunday (Tricycle Theatre) and Justifying War: Scenes From The Hutton Inquiry (Tricycle Theatre and BBC). Her work as a director includes Waiting For Lefty (Battersea Arts Centre) and Female Parts (Contact Theatre).
Tanika Gupta's work has been staged extensively for theatre, radio and television. Her work includes an adaptation of Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice (Young Vic & Tour); Fragile Land, Sanctuary and The Waiting Room. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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