Hassan Abdulrazzak’s plays include Baghdad Wedding (Soho Theatre, London 2007; BBC Radio 3, 2008; Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney 2009; Akvarious productions, Delhi & Mumbai 2010), The Prophet (Gate theatre, 2012), Love, Bombs and Apples (Arcola Theatre, 2016 and UK tour; Golden Thread, San Francisco, 19 April – 6 May 2018 followed by a second UK tour) and And Here I Am (Arcola Theatre, 2017 and UK tour; Middle East and Africa tour, 2018). His short plays include Trump in Palestine (part of the multi-author show Top Trumps at Theatre 503, 2017) and Lost Kingdom (Golden Thread Reorient 2015 festival, San Francisco). Hassan is commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has adapted Baghdad Wedding into a feature film for Focus Features and is writing a feature film for New Century. Hassan has received the George Devine, Meyer-Whitworth and Pearson theatre awards as well as the Arab British Centre Award for Culture.
Esther Baker is the Artistic Director of Synergy Theatre Project. Established in 2000, the company creates ground-breaking work across theatre and the justice system. Their work includes new plays which are specially commissioned to humanise the stories of those we work with – prisoners, ex-prisoners and young people at risk of offending and to provide new insights into the criminal justice system. Credits include most recently Martin Askew’s There is a Field (Theatre503), Davey Anderson’s Blackout (Ovalhouse), Evan Placey’s Girls Like That (Unicorn Theatre), Innua Ellum’s Cape and John Donelly’s Burning Bird (Unicorn Theatre), Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Trafalgar Studios); Shelagh Stephenson’s The Long Road (Soho Theatre); Elmina’s Kitchen (HMP Brixton); On the Waterfront (Wimbledon Studio Theatre) and Burn and Someone to Watch Over Me (Southwark Playhouse).
The Special Relationship was researched in collaboration with Prisoners Abroad, a UK charity supporting British citizens imprisoned overseas and returning to the UK.
For press information and reviewing tickets please contact Clióna Roberts on cliona@crpr.co.uk