Tickets for A Museum in Baghdad at the Kiln Theatre on sale now!
The all-new play by Hannah Khalil is set to make its way to London's Kiln Theatre this Spring following its highly-anticipated premiere at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Exploring what it means to create a national identity and why national treasures are deemed important when a nation's people is dying, Hannah Khalil's thought-provoking play A Museum in Baghdad marks a unique collaboration with Royal Shakespeare Company that promises to be as provocative as it is eye-opening.
With the play set to run for just one month only at the Kiln Theatre in London — an off-West End venue known for offering theatre tickets at a low price — A Museum in Baghdad tickets are guaranteed to be in high demand. Be sure to book your tickets early to this groundbreaking production to secure the best seats whilst stocks last.
About the play A Museum in Baghdad: plot & background
In 1926, the country of Iraq was in its infancy and still developing. Gertrude Bell, a renowned British archaeologist, is working on founding a new museum in the nation's capital city of Baghdad. In the year 2006, the nation of Iraq is in tatters as a result of the war in Iraq, which not only resulted in widespread devastation but also looting. Ghalia Hussein is desperately trying to reopen Bell's museum amidst the aftermath of the War on Terror.
Separated by 80 years of history, these two courageous women share the same goals: to create a new feeling of nationhood and unity and to contribute to world culture through the museum and its many invaluable treasures. But in such dark and wobbly times, questions are left unanswered. Who is the target audience for the museum? Whose culture is being preserved? And why should all this matter when the population is dropping like flies?
A Museum in Baghdad cast and creatives
The new play by Hannah Khalil stars Emma Fielding (Cymbeline, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night) as Gertrude Bell, Rendah Heywood (Holby City, EastEnders) as Ghalia Hussein, Ali Gadema (Endgame) as Kidnapper/Prime Minister, Zed Josef (Dinner with Saddam at the Menier Chocolate Factory) as Salim, Nadi Kemp-Sayfi (Hijabi Monologues) as Nasiya, Debbie Korley (Timon of Athens, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors) as Sam York, Riad Richie (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet) as Mohammed Abdullah, Rasoul Saghir (The Clown) as Abu Zaman, David Birrell (Moby Dick, Hamlet, Murder in the Cathedral) as Professor Leonard Woolley, and Houda Echouafni (1001 Nights) as Layla Hassan.
The RSC production of A Museum in Baghdad is directed by Erica Whyman and features design by Tom Piper, lighting by Charles Balfour, magic and sound by Oguz Kaplangi, movement by Tanushka Marah, dramaturgy by David Greig and Pippa Hill, and video design by Nina Dunn.
Why did Hannah Khalil write a play about Iraq?
Hannah Khalil is a playwright with a Middle Eastern background and whose heritage inspired her to write this moving new piece about two women endeavouring to preserve a country's treasures. One of her biggest goals with A Museum in Baghdad was to address Arab stereotypes and how Arabs are portrayed in the entertainment industry. Before she started writing the play, she had always considered representations of Muslims and Arabs to be narrowminded and was fed up with the problem increasingly getting worse.
Whenever Arab men are stereotyped, Arab women are stereotyped two-fold and Khalil has never met a subservient lady in a veil her whole life. The character of Ghalia Hussein is inspired by a real-life Iraqi woman and archaeologist who struggled to rebuild a museum that was subject to looting in the war. Khalil felt that her determination, strength, and courage better represented the characteristics of the Arabic women she has met in her lifetime.
Hannah Khalil on colonialism and Britain's imperial past
Khalil believes European colonialism is a grey area that cannot be read in black and white terms. In an issue of the periodical, Radical Mischief Zine, she acknowledges that she may not even exist if it weren't for colonialism that brought her Irish mother and Palestinian father together to London. But she also admits that deep divisions in the Middle East might also not exist either. If European empires colonised other countries with good intentions in mind, it's important to recognise that their overall goals were to benefit from the assets of these new colonies. Hannah Khalil explores these heavy themes in A Museum in Baghdad.
Don't miss out on A Museum in Baghdad. Tickets now available for low, low prices! Book your Kiln Theatre tickets for A Museum in Baghdad today.
