'Aftermath' shines light on human impact of Iraq war

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen of New York Theatre Workshop made their names as writers for the powerful play, The Exonerated, which told the true story of six people sentenced to Death Row in America for crimes they didn’t commit.

The play toured all over the world, and was translated into many languages while a film version was also made, starring Susan Sarandon, Brian Dennehy and Aidan Quinn.

Among those whose stories featured in The Exonerated was Sunny Jacobs, who spent 16 years on Death Row in Florida, wrongly convicted of murdering two policemen. She now lives in Galway and Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen hope to visit her when their new show, Aftermath receives its Irish premiere at this year’s Galway Arts Festival.

Aftermath, again based on real people’s experiences, is a dramatic retelling of the stories of ordinary Iraqi people who, in the chaos and lawlessness following the invasion of their country, fled to the relative safety of Jordan.

Erik and Jessica travelled to Jordan’s refugee camps in 2008 where they met, among others, a pharmacist, a taxi driver, an artist husband and wife. These were, variously, Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims and Christians. It is very middle class, says Erik from his New York base, explaining that they couldn’t gather the experience of less well off people because those people couldn’t afford to leave Iraq.

But the men and women they did meet told gripping stories, which husband and wife Erik and Jessica subsequently crafted into Aftermath.

“It was a wringing out your emotions,” says Erik of the interview experience.

Some people they interviewed had hope, others had humour, others had suffered serious damage to their bodies and spirits; still more were the only surviving members of their families.

“The whole gamut of human emotions was in these four-hour interviews,” he says. But although it was harrowing, it “was very satisfying work because the plays were there already, we were just freeing what already existed”.

Among those who shared their story were two artists, a husband and wife forced to leave Iraq because a mullah threatened them after they staged a festival with music. He decided that music was forbidden and they had to flee or face arbitrary punishment.

Erik and Jessica selected the best 10 interviews on the basis of what worked best together dramatically. The resulting piece was directed by Jessica, premiering to rave reviews in New York last year.

Like The Exonerated, Aftermath is a political play, but then Jessica believes all of life is political, with a small ‘p’, her husband explains. “We take on these issues not to take on ‘hot topics’ but because certain topics are eternal. Power and the abuse of it and people’s relationship with it is eternal.”

For more, read this wek's Connacht Tribune.