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Cast:- 4m 2w
ISBN 1 877319 08 2
ISBN 978 1 877319 08 2
Teachers’ discount $17
RRP $22.50
Baghdad, Baby!
Dean Parker
An exotic tragi-comic epic with romantic overtones, Baghdad, Baby! is a perfect balance of humour, politics, broken hearts and outrage. Very few audience members leave without feeling their personal beliefs have been shaken, whatever their convictions or stance on the Americans’ – and New Zealand’s – policy in the Middle East.
However, this is primarily a play about people, our common humanity; how, when faced with violence and our need for love and security, we all want the same fundamental things.
Baghdad, Baby! was nominated for Best Play, Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards 2005.
“You would be hard pressed to find a more intelligent, humane piece of theatre. The fact it is also hugely entertaining means it will win the large audience it deserves.”
Sunday Star Times
“Dean Parker’s ingenious take on occupied Iraq is in turn insightful, humorous, sardonic, heart-warming, heart-rending and spine chilling … Parker puts the simplistic propaganda of all political factions into perspective.”
John Smythe, Theatreview
“It is heartening to see a local playwright take on big international subjects without feeling obliged to inoculate his work with butt-covering, postmodern irony… Baghdad, Baby! is a must see.”
The Listener
“There’s an anti war sentiment, but … he also explores the other side of the argument. It’s topical, it’s intelligent and it’ll get you thinking.”
Capital Times
Always a writer with strong political convictions, Dean Parker has been encouraged by the new wave of political dramas of the last few years, and has produced NZ’s own; a funny, confident, mature and highly contemporary political play. He completely avoids propaganda and rant, and presents all points of view lucidly, with humour, tolerance and compassion, without ever dropping the ‘entertainment’ ball.
The play encourages readers to question all prejudice; politicians’, journalists’, and their own assumptions of human nature at war. It also gives an unusual perspective on NZ’s place in the world, and is an object lesson in how to write powerful, poignant and affecting political theatre, so is also a valuable resource for our rapidly growing crowd of script and screenplay writing students.
Dean has written extensively for TV, film, radio and the stage.
The Dean Parker Adaptation or Non-Fiction award is held annually by Playmarket.