S-27
by Sarah Grochala
by Sarah Grochala
S-27 explores the moral dilemmas faced by a prison photographer in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia as she confronts the faces of the regime's former enemies.
About The Play
About The Play
TIME OUT CRITICS’ CHOICE
★★★★ Four Stars, Time Out
★★★★ Four Stars, The Guardian
★★★★ Four Stars, WhatsOnStage
★★★★ Four Stars, Sunday Express
S-27 was subsequently performed at the Griffin Theatre, Sydney. Details here
May is an idealist. She’s fighting for a better world and has sacrificed more than most. So when the old regime is destroyed, she is rewarded with a job as a prison photographer. But as the enemy pass one by one before her unflinching lens – both strange and familiar faces – can they shake her belief in this world she helped create?
Inspired by the work of the photographer Nhem En, who photographed the inmates of Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia under the rule of the Khmer Rouge, and by painter Van Nath who painted Pol Pot and was one of only seven survivors of Tuol Sleng, playwright Sarah Grochala draws on prison records and interviews with both prisoners and Khmer Rouge cadres to create a startling and affecting drama.
S-27 is the second production by Lifeboat Theatre, following Fanny and Faggot by Jack Thorne which had a sell-out run at the Finborough Theatre in February 2007 where it was named Time Out’s Critics’ Choice Show of the Week. It subsequently transferred to the Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, and London’s Trafalgar Studios. Director Stephen Keyworth was winner of the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Theatre Award 2002 for his production of his own play Dog Well Done – originally commissioned for and performed at the Finborough Theatre in 2000.