Stephen Cavanagh, Beth Burrows and Richard Lynson in Safe Haven [Ikin Yum]

FOLLOWING the 1991 Gulf War, the Kurds in northern Iraq rose up against Saddam Hussein, convinced that the dictator was weakened and the West would support them.

Instead, as American troops withdrew, they were violently crushed, and hundreds of thousands fled toward the Turkish and Iranian borders, where many were killed by Hussein’s forces or starved to death. Their flight triggered a major humanitarian crisis, although neither Britain nor the United States was initially keen to intervene.

Inspired by these events, Chris Bowers’s debut play is both articulate and engaging.

Safe Haven follows the intense diplomacy under John Major’s government that ultimately helped prevent a genocide.

Dlawer (Mazlum Gul), a Kurdish medical graduate exiled in London and concerned for his pregnant sister Najat (Eugenie Bouda), lobbies the Foreign Office. He is supported by two diplomats, Clive (Richard Lynson) and his assistant Catherine (Beth Burrows).

They must persuade Brett (Stephen Cavanagh), the American army general assigned to the FCO, to secure a safe haven in Iraq that will save countless lives.

It’s well-acted – Lisa Zahra completes a strong cast. Bowers, a former diplomat and Consul General in Iraqi Kurdistan, writes about the milieu he knows and, inevitably, his storytelling favours the political over the emotional.

At times, the drama feels a touch too expository. Short scenes that could have been extended to build both tension and empathy, together with Mark Giesser’s brisk direction, keep us at a distance.

Nevertheless, this important historical account of humanitarian intervention deserves the oxygen the production provides, and remains painfully and urgently resonant.

Until February 7
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