Guantanamo Boy
An emotionally powerful play
for teenagers
"Innocent until proven guilty, not here you’re not”
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Khalid likes football, hip hop and computer games and has a crush on a girl in his class like any other teenager boy. But being a Muslim in the aftermath of 9/11 can be dangerous. Snatched in the middle of the night he is thrown into a nightmare world in which he is presumed guilty.
Brolly have created a dynamic in your face one-hour show using graphics, kinetic staging and an original sound score to immerse the audience in Khalid’s world. This story of the transgression of human rights explores the political landscape of war, identity and belonging.
Based on the highly acclaimed novel by Anna Perera, Guantanamo Boy is one ordinary boy’s story about having to grow up in extraordinary circumstances.
Guantanamo Boy Autumn Tour 2013 is part of Half Moon Presents, a new initiative that supports the promotion and development of contemporary theatrefor young audiences for touring at a national and international level.
The National Tour 2013 included Half Moon Theatre (London); The Hat Factory (Luton); Middle Temple Hall (London); The Mercury Theatre (Colchester); Burnley Youth Centre (Lancashire); The Drum (Birmingham).
More than the stage
Middle Temple Hall
Inns of Court, London
'Performing Human Rights'
Symposium
Project: Guantanamo Boy
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“The scope of The Guantanamo Boy project is far reaching. It pushes to the foreground a discussion on fundamental human rights issues that are not only pertinent to our own time but which are, in fact, timeless; torture and ill treatment, indefinite detention, rendition, death penalty, fair trial and secret evidence.
These discussion areas are the building blocks for understanding democratic values and the rule of law and Guantanamo Boy provides a fantastic conduit for young people to engage with these issues- it being a story about a young person trapped in a nightmare world, which is, in fact, a real place. The eager and vigorous interaction and engagement from the young audience who attended the evening is testament to that.
The young people in the audience were clearly enthralled by the theatre piece. This unsurprising as the production unflinchingly challenged the audience to directly face the issues raised by the Guantanamo Bay saga by further developing and extrapolating by the issues raised by the novel. The young audience were very keen to take up these issues further after the evening was finished and I was approached by a number of them afterwards eager to ask questions. Some even wished to apply for work experience in the field of human rights."
Edward Grieves Human Rights Barrister at Garden Court Chambers,
Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, London
