Based on transcripts from Reprieve's client interviews, iceandfire's documentary play will be performed at St John's Church, Princes Street in Edinburgh.
After each performance there will be a discussion and a Q&A session with Reprieve's Clara Gutteridge and members of production company Iceandfire.
The play tells the harrowing first hand testimonies of victims of rendition, including the story of Binyam Mohamed, who was recently returned to the UK from Guantánamo Bay.
The event was promoted using a viral video campaign which used a two minute segment of the script in which the actors spoke directly to the audience, through the camera, about the way in which they were snatched by the CIA.
Christine Bacon, Co-Artistic Director of iceandfire, compiled the script using material available on the public record, including testimonies from four men who are victims of extraordinary rendition. She says:
“Because of the secrecy surrounding this issue, it tends to be cloaked in a conspiracy-theory haze. With this campaign, as with the dissemination of Rendition Monologues through our outreach project Actors for Human Rights, we want to remind people about the human beings behind the headlines and contribute to a full reckoning of the human rights abuses committed in the name of the ‘War on Terror’.”
“Even though President Obama has made some progress in outlawing torture and acknowledging the CIA’s crimes, we need to ensure the victims of these crimes see some justice at long last. Pressure must be brought upon the on the US Government, and any other Governments which have colluded with them, to conduct a full investigation into the crimes committed.”
Speaking about Rendition Monologues, Clive Stafford Smith, Director of Reprieve said:
"If you doubt the shocking reality of rendition, you should see this performance. The word "rendition" sounds innocuous enough, but what it actually means is kidnapping and torture, without any kind of legal process whatsoever. Reprieve’s client, Binyam Mohamed – one of several prisoners whose stories are brought to life in this piece – knows all about rendition’s true face. Sent to Morocco by the Americans, he confessed to all manner of crimes, but only after torture, when he repeatedly had his penis cut with a razor over 18 months."
Bisher al-Rawi, a former Guantánamo prisoner saw one of the first performances of Rendition Monologues in London in June. He was deeply affected:
"Really, I am almost lost for words. The show was really very moving, scarily so. The performance really brought it home. I was almost living through their experiences and mine as well."
For more information please contact Alex Grace on 02074271082 or alexgrace@reprieve.org.uk or iceandfire.
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