The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes

Nabil Elouahabi &

Nick of Time Productions Ltd present

The

Nightmares

of Carlos

Fuentes

By
Rashid Razaq

Based on a short story by
Hassan Blasim

The World Premiere

First performed at the Arcola Theatre Studio 1

on 23 June 2014

Supported by

AND: Martin Brodie, Ian & Benedicte Clarkson, Baginsky Cohen, Gill Fitzhugh, Jenny Hall, Ali Matar, Nadim & Bobbie Sawalha and The Unity Theatre Trust.

The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes
By
Rashid Razaq

 CAST in order of appearance

The play is set in London, an immigration detention centre outside London, and Baghdad between 2006 – 2011.
It runs approximately 75 minutes without an interval.

Acknowledgements

WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL TO THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS, ORGANISATIONS AND COMPANIES FOR THEIR HELP WITH THIS PRODUCTION: SHEENA BHATTESSA, CRESSIDA BROWN, LUCY JACKSON, BEN LATHAM & THE REFUGEE COUNCIL, RICHARD NORTON-TAYLOR, LIZ FRANKEL, RA PAGE, ESTELA WELLDON, PETER WILSON, THE COMMA PRESS, THE MANDEVILLE HOTEL, AND ALL THE STAFF AT THE ARCOLA THEATRE.

HASSAN BLASIM
(Writer of the original story)

Is a poet, filmmaker and short story writer. Born in Baghdad in 1973, he studied at the city’s Academy of Cinematic Arts, where two of his films ‘Gardenia’ (screenplay & director) and ‘White Clay’ (screenplay) won the Academy’s Festival Award for Best Work in their respective years. In 1998 he left Baghdad for Sulaymaniya (Iraqi Kurdistan), where he continued to make films, including the feature-length drama
Wounded Camera
, under the pseudonym Ouazad Osman, fearing for his family back in Baghdad under the Hussein dictatorship. In 2004, he moved to Finland, where he has since made numerous short films and documentaries for Finnish television.

His stories have previously been published on
www.iraqstory.com
and his essays on cinema have featured in Cinema Booklets (Emirates Cultural Foundation). After first appearing in English in
Madinah
, his debut collection
The Madman of Freedom Square
was published by Comma a year later (Nov 2009).
Madman
was long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2010, and has since been translated into numerous other languages. A heavily censored Arabic edition was finally published in 2012 and was immediately banned in Jordan. In 2010, Hassan was described by
The Guardian
newspaper as ‘perhaps the greatest writer of Arabic fiction alive’. His second collection,
The Iraqi Christ
was published in April 2013, and subsequently translated and published in Finland at the end of 2013. A selection of stories from both of his two collections were published in the States in Feb 2014, by Penguin USA, under the title ‘The Corpse Exhibition’. In May 2014,
The Iraqi Christ
was announced the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize – the first Arabic title ever to win the award and the first short story collection ever to win the award.

RASHID RAZAQ
(Playwright)

Rashid’s debut play
The President and The Pakistani
(directed by Tom Attenborough), based on the real-life story of Barack Obama and his illegal immigrant flat-mate opened at the Waterloo East Theatre in run-up to the US presidential election in 2012. Rashid’s short play
Arab Spring
(starring Nabil Elouahabi) was performed at the Nursery Festival in 2011 and was featured on BBC Arabic Service. His short play,
Hardcore
, was selected for a best of programme at the 503 Theatre. He is a graduate of the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers’ Programme.

Rashid wrote
Man and Boy
(starring Eddie Marsan), which won Best Short at the Tribeca Film Festival 2011 and a top prize at the Aspen Film Festival. His previous short film
Father
(starring Sam Spruell and Matt King) was selected for festivals in the UK and internationally. He has co-written the forthcoming feature film
Orthodox
(starring Stephen Graham) about an Orthodox Jewish boxer and has another feature film in development.

Rashid works as a reporter for the London
Evening Standard
covering subjects including crime, arts and politics, and is a screenwriter as well as a journalist.

CAST

SARA BAHADORI
(Case worker/Sahar)

Trained at Bretton Hall, Leeds. She is of Iranian/British heritage and hails originally from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Her television credits include
ITV’s Coronation Street, BBC’s Waterloo Road, YTV’s The Royal Today
and
BBC’s Doctors
. Her Theatre credits include
The Worm Collector
at the West Yorkshire Playhouse,
Soul Destroying Finger Food
at The Old Red Lion and
Click
at Riverside Studios. Her comedy work includes performing her own writing in sketch-shows at Leicester Square Theatre and as part of Triforce Promotions’ Monologue Slam. Her recent radio work includes impersonating the legendary ‘Freda Kelly’ as the lead role in
Sorry Boys, You Failed the Audition
for BBC Radio 4. More at
www.sarabahadori.com

NABIL ELOUAHABI
(Carlos)

Theatre credits include
Love Your Soldiers
at the Sheffield Crucible,
The Great Game: Afghanistan
for the Tricycle Theatre/US Tour,
Crossing Jerusalem
also at the Tricycle and
Sparkleshark
for the National Theatre. Recent Television credits include Fox’s
24
, BAFTA award-winning drama
Top Boy
Series II for Channel 4,
Generation Kill
for HBO,
The Path to 9/11
for ABC,
Mad Dogs
on SKY. He is well-known for his role as Tariq in the BBC’s
EastEnders
and as GARY in the beloved
Only Fools & Horses
. Film credits include
Zero Dark Thirty
, Code 46,
In This World, Ali G Indahouse
and
The Sum of All Fears. The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes
will be Nabil’s first co-production, with further projects in development.

CAROLINE LANGRISHE
(Lydia)

Theatre credits include
The Memory of Water
at the New Vic Theatre/Stephen Joseph Theatre,
The Handyman
at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre/national tour,
Country
at the Southwark Playhouse,
Hay Fever
at the Chichester Festival Theatre,
Tons of Money
on national tour,
Private Lives
at the Windsor Theatre Royal,
Marrying the Mistress
on a national tour,
Murderer
at the Menier Chocolate Factory,
The Way of the World
at the Manchester Royal Exchange,
Our Song
on national tour,
An Ideal Husband
on national tour,
‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore
at the Young Vic Theatre,
Twelfth Night
at the Riverside Studios,
Present Laughter
at the Wyndham’s Theatre,
Private Lives
and
Talk of The Devil
at the Watford Palace Theatre,
The Philanderer
at the Hampstead Theatre,
The Knickers
at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith and
A Month in the Country, Don Juan, Much Ado about Nothing
, and
Danton’s Death
at the National Theatre. Caroline is best known on screen for roles including Charlotte Cavendish in
Lovejoy
, Georgina Channing in
Judge John Deed
and Marilyn Fox in
Casualty
. Her other screen credits include
Death in Paradise, The Case, Outnumbered, Pete Versus Life, Midsomer Murders, Sharpe, Sons Daughters and Lovers, Poirot, Chancer, Pulaski, Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina
and
The Glittering Prizes
. Film Credits include
Plastic, Love’s Kitchen, Second Son, Bonobo, David Rose, Memorablis, Kisna, Rogue Trader, Newborn, Parting Shots, Crimetime, Twelfth Night, Hawks, Cleopatra, Dead Man’s Folly, A Christmas Carol, Les Miserables, Mistral’s Daughter Death Watch
, and
The Eagle’s Wing
.

SELVA RASALINGAM
(Kevin/Khaled)

Theatre credits include Nicolas Kent’s productions
The Riots (Tricycle)
and
Guantanamo
(West End transfer);
On the Record
(Ice and Fire Productions/Arcola),
Mary Stuart
(Derby Playhouse),
Eden’s Empire
(Finborough), RSC’s
Midnight’s Children
(US/UK tour and Barbican). TV includes:
Luther, Hustle, Doctor Who, Spooks, Torchwood, Waking the Dead, Jonathan Creek
(BBC); Joseph (Turner Pictures/BBC);
The Borgias
(Sky Atlantic);
Run, The Golden Years
by Arthur Miller (Channel 4);
Herod the Great
as Herod (Five);
Londynczycy
(Telewizja Polska); Law and Order (ITV). Film includes: Jesus in
The Gospels
film series;
The Veteran, The Devil’s Double, Prince of Persia, Skyfall, Man About Dog, Carry on Columbus, Son of the Pink Panther
. Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.