The ‘white saviour complex’ is somewhat inescapable in this narrative: when Catherine (Beth Burrows), talks fervently about taking action to do something about Kurdish refugees displaced during the 1991 uprisings in Iraq, it was crystal clear that she believed there was no other course of action. Western military might was required to, in essence, invade a section of northern Iraq. Catherine, who worked for the Diplomatic Service under senior official Clive (Richard Lynson), used different terminology, as diplomats are often inclined to do, and rather too much time is spent in the play with the details of United Nations Security Council resolutions and what nouns would be appropriate and less open to misinterpretation by, say, the media, or American military chiefs, or Downing Street, or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Operation Haven – as it was actually called, not Operation Safe Haven, as the play calls it – aimed to resettle the Kurdish refugees from the Turkish mountains to which they had fled, and included humanitarian aid being distributed.
The problem with the play is that it can’t quite decide what it wants to be. To an extent, it is a political drama about the hoops and hurdles that must be overcome to gain consensus that there even is a problem that needs tackling in the first place. Or, to put it more crudely, the ‘civil service blob’ appears to be a real thing. But, at least to me, a subplot about Najat (Eugenie Bouda), a heavily pregnant Kurdish woman escaping without food and supplies, was far more intriguing. She follows the crowds into the mountains, with not much else besides the clothes she is wearing, and encounters Zeyra (Lisa Zahra), a friendly face who looks after her. But too often, these ladies’ stories are cut off by the show’s action returning to the machinations of British diplomacy. Not a good look for the production!
There was also too much exposition. The audience is not stupid and did not need paragraphs of dialogue to explain the dangers of airdropping large and heavy aid parcels to people in mountains. Clive evidently didn’t need it either. At times it was like watching an episode of BBC Television’s Who Do You Think You Are? in which a significant genealogical revelation is unnecessarily followed up a voiceover repeating the same thing, and then graphics showing an updated family tree. Even the play’s title is overexplained, as if the characters were wanting a round of applause – did they think they invented the term ‘safe haven’? Did they want MBEs for apparently doing so? That said, I had some sympathy for Catherine by the end. She fought The Blob. Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Blob won.
There are press conferences. There are office conversations. For whatever reason Catherine accepts invitations to Clive’s house, where she meets Clive’s wife Anne (also Zahra) and the diplomats continue their discussions about work, but at home. Momentarily, perfectly civilised people behaving themselves was nice to see, but it really does not make for riveting theatre. Stephen Cavanagh’s Brett, an American military chief who did not swear or shout enough, at least in my book, to fully convince as an American military chief, brought some drama to proceedings. At the venue’s invitations – plural – I stuck around after the performance I attended for a Q&A session with the playwright, Chris Bowers. He was asked by BBC Radio 4’s Claudia Hammond why he didn’t write a book instead. She was right to ask the question – I suspect a book would have been more riveting than this rather dry and clunky experience. Fair play to the Arcola Theatre for putting on a production with a different take on a key period of modern history.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Spring, 1991.
In the aftermath of the First Gulf War, as Saddam Hussein’s forces brutally crush the Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq, two million Kurds escape into the freezing mountains. The world watches on in horror as images of death and starvation reach television screens.
Meanwhile, in Whitehall, two diplomats – aided by a Kurdish refugee – fight to convince the British government that it is their moral duty to intervene before it is too late.
Based on historic events, this sweeping new play reveals how moral conviction and diplomatic resolve sparked Operation Safe Haven – the unprecedented mission that prevented a genocide.
COMPANY
Beth Burrows – Catherine
Mazlum Gül – Dlawer / Al-Tikriti
Eugenie Bouda – Najat
Richard Lynson – Clive
Lisa Zahra – Anne / Zeyra
Stephen Cavanagh – Brett / Reporter
CREATIVES
Chris Bowers – Writer
Mark Giesser – Director
Jida Akil – Designer
Ali Taie – Sound Designer
Sam Owen – Lighting Designer
Libby Ward – Video Designer
SAFE HAVEN
Arcola Theatre
14 January to 7 February 2026
