Guy Slater's Eastern Star about the tortuous relationship between two men in Myanmar poses the question: who writes history, the activist or the journalist?
Just after of the 30th anniversary of the 1988 student uprising against the military dictatorship in Burma (now Myanmar) on 8 August, Eastern Star will be performed at Tara Theatre in September.
The play is based on the true story of the relationship between BBC World Service journalist Christopher Gunness and Burmese human rights lawyer U Nay Min.
After the revolution was brutally suppressed, U Nay Min was arrested, imprisoned for 16 years and tortured. Set around their fraught and painful reunion 25 years after the revolution, the play examines the responsibility of global news corporations towards their sources, touching on the theme of news manipulation and fake news.
Slater said, "Christopher and U May Min's story is a moving and resonant one. I am delighted to be bringing it to the stage for the 30th anniversary of the 1988 student uprising. People rarely stop to think about the relationship between a reporter and his/her subject. It's been a challenge and a delight to look at the story from both—very complex and painful—perspectives."
Gunness added, "it's surreal to have started a revolution by mistake without even realising it, but as a cub reporter at the BBC that's just what I did. I never imagined that my reporting would play a part in shaping the fate of a nation and writing the first draft of its history and, with the Rohinga crisis deepening, that history is still being written. The true hero of this story is U Nay Min, and I am delighted that this story is being brought to the stage on this momentous anniversary"
Casting has yet to be announced.