The Meaning of Waiting. Victoria Brittain

are suspended while applications to the European Court of Human Rights are pending. Meanwhile, the proposed deportees are detained in high security prison, often for years. If released, they are subjected to even more stringent conditions than Control Orders, with curfews of up to 22 hours a day, and in one case 24 hours a day.

      1 For more on the impact of control orders and national security deportation see Victoria Brittain, ‘Besieged in Britain’, Race and Class (2009) 50:3. Institute of Race Relations

      The play was first produced as Waiting, at the Purcell Room on March 12 and 13 2010, by the Southbank Centre in association with Metta Theatre Company. The production text of Waiting was a modified version of the original The Meaning of Waiting.

      Director, Dramaturge and Librettist, Poppy Burton-Morgan *

      Composer, Jessica Dannheisser *

      Design, Projection and Lighting, William Reynolds

      Assistant Director, Rachel Warr

      SABAH, Juliet Stevenson

      WENDY, Gemma Jones

      ALEXIA, Simone James

      NOUR (Soprano), Anna Dennis

      YASMINE (Mezzo), Carole Wilson

      CELLO, Oliver Coates

      WOMEN A, Harriet Ladbury

      WOMAN C, Diana Hardcastle

      WOMAN Z, Manjinder Virk

      After each performance there was a panel discussion, with Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Salma Yacoob, Gareth Peirce, Vanessa Redgrave, Manjinder Virk, Riz Ahmed, Moazzem Begg, chaired by Victoria Brittain.

      Flowers were presented to four of the women in the audience whose words were spoken.

      The libretto for the two sung characters, Nour and Yasmine, was taken from the text.

      The Meaning of Waiting was published in Arabic in Beirut by Dar Al Furabi in 2009, with a translation by Maha Bahbou funded by the Qattan Foundation in Ramallah.

       www.mettatheatre.co.uk

       www.jessicadannheisser.com

      Characters

Alexia	French/Senegalese
Sabah	British/Palestinian
Yasmine	British/Jordanian
Nour	British/Palestinian
Wendy	British
Amani	British/Libyan

      Woman A

      Woman B

      Woman Z