O'Brien, Dan (University of Wolverhampton UK)

The Body of an American O'Brien, Dan (University of Wolverhampton UK)

Dan O'Brien's gripping and provocative play, The Body of an American speaks to a moment in recent history when a single, stark photograph - of the body of an American dragged from the wreck of a Blackhawk through the streets of Mogadishu - reshaped the course of global events. In a story ranging far in time and place, from Rwanda to Afghanistan to the Canadian Arctic, and in powerful, theatrical language, Dan O'Brien explores the ethical and personal consequences of Paul Watson's photograph, as well as the interplay between political upheaval and the experience of trauma in an age saturated by images and information.