Brilliant British story about asylum - and OCD

Tommy Sim'aan in Insane Asylum Seekers. Photo: Alex Powell

Daniel Nelson

Ignore the title, Insane Asylum Seekers, which suggests a whacky comedy straining for laughs. Think instead of an intimate, brilliantly written and performed monologue about a British Iraqi family.

It’s also a powerful representation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

The trio responsible for this short but outstanding piece of theatre are writer Laith Elzubaidi, whose parents fled Iraq and Iran — though they met in a McDonald's in Shepherd's Bush; British-Iraqi-Belgian actor Tommy Sim’aan; and director Emily Ling-Wllliams.

Elzubaidi’s home is Britain and this is a British story (“To the best of my knowledge the Iraqi was indigenous to Wembley”) but he’s not afraid of harsh political judgements: the piece opens with a celebration of the death of former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (“For most Iraqis, it's actually a lifelong dream to die of natural causes”} and condemnation of Britain’s policies in Iraq (“if anyone thinks I’m insulting the brave men and women who serve in our armed forces, let me reassure you I am”). Prime Minister Tony Blair’s press secretary Alastair Campbell also gets it in the neck.

He is equally honest about his parents, his first jobs and his first love, his reactions on a visit to Iraq, and, above all, about the funny, frightening, disruptive sides of his OCD, which gradually insinuates itself to centre-stage.

Elzubaidi (who is the founder of the British-Arab Writers Group, a collective of over 200 British-Arab writers) manages to tie up all the strands of his story and even to end on a heart-lifting note.

Superb.

* Insane Asylum Seekers, £15-20, is at the Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ until 7 June. Info: Bush

+ 24 May, The Future of Arab Stories, panel and workshop, 4-6pm

+ 31 May, Mixer session for SWANA creatives, hosted by Laith Elzubaidi, 4.30-7.30pm

+ 6 June, The Future of Arab Stories, panel and workshop, 4.30-7pm