Akram Assam has been developing Cassettes, a work about how Akram memory functions in two regions in the world – those suffering from wars, and safe areas – and about how war and violence affect changing human senses. Cassettes have been developed through the collecting of reflections and diaries from people from outside war zones who have visited war zones. What is collected is translated into a live solo performance, incorporating movement, video, and special lighting design.
It appears that Akram is finding a way to translate the violent experiences he left behind to a Western audience that did not grow up in war. This is his main concern. Baghdad has been divided, since 2003, into the Green Zone – where the government and the embassies are based – and the Red Zone, the vast urban areas of chaos, poverty, and decline that surround it. Akram has expanded this notion: in his mind, the Red Zone is what lies behind him, the Green Zone is where he finds himself today. To create a steady base for his practice as a theatre director, but also simply to survive as a human being, he will have to bridge this gap.
The obstacles are obvious: the language, the lack of production facilities, and being unknown in a new theatre landscape. But he is single-minded. He will overcome these obstacles. As the story of his fabled, damaged city deserves.
