Elegy

Synopsis

Debuting at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival to great acclaim, Elegy is a poetic love letter to the victims of homophobic murders that take place in a liberated Iraq regularly. Told from the viewpoint of one who got away, his is a moving and extraordinary story of love, loss and exile: a journey through a no-man's land of empty train stations, border crossings and bomb-blasted towns.

Our Review:

15 October 2012

One man, isolated and alone on a stage completely covered with discarded, unwanted clothing: it's a striking visual metaphor for this show which is based on interviews with gay men and women who fled mass killings by militia groups in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Many of them headed to the UK, driven by the hope of freedom from persecution, not always welcomed with open arms.

Inspired by pictures taken by photojournalist Bradley Secker, Elegy isn’t quite as heavy as it sounds but poetic and accessible, deserving the plaudits from its stint at last year’s Edinburgh fringe.

Elegy is also a compelling tribute to the people who died in the crackdown on liberty - one UN official believes the number of homophobic murders in Iraq was “in the hundreds” - as well as posing questions about how we treat immigrants from areas of conflict in the UK.

Sam Phillips (who is as the programme notes state, a white British actor) recounts the life of...

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