Gladiator Games

2 Nov 05 - 25 Feb 06,  Theatre Royal Stratford East 

Zahid Mubarek, a young British Asian man, was a local lad from Walthamstow, just a couple of miles up the road from this theatre. He got into trouble with the law and found himself in Feltham Young Offenders Institute. Little did he or his family know that he was about to be dealt a death sentence. On the eve of his release, Zahid was attacked by his cellmate. One week later he died of his injuries. How was this allowed to happen?

In collaboration with The Monitoring Group, one of Britain’s pre-eminent young writers traces a family’s pursuit of the truth behind his death. Gladiator Games, is based on interviews and accounts of the public inquiry into the fatal assault on Zahid Mubarek, a public enquiry which was for years denied them by David Blunkett's Home Office. Gladiator Games examines this and the staggering incompetence of the official response to this tragic event.

WHAT THE PRESS SAID

“The play’s poignancy and its political power, are a fitting tribute to a murdered teenager.” Emma John – Time Out

“Tanika Gupta’s powerful dramatisation…makes a strong case that Mr Mubarek’s death was caused by sins of commission as well as omission” Nick Curtis - Evening Standard

“a work of real political importance; painful to witness, but entirely essential” Sam Marlowe - The Times

“an unsettling intensity” John Highfield - The Stage

“dismayingly accurate” Dominic Cavendish – The Daily Telegraph

“The cast of five is stunning, each playing several characters with energy and insight” Lynne Walker – The Independent