''Mogadishu'' is the debut play by ex-school teacher

Vivienne Franzmann Vivienne Franzman (born 1971) is a British playwright from Walthamstow, whose first play, ''Mogadishu'', was critically acclaimed on its première at the Royal Exchange, Manchester and on its transference to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in 2011 ...

concerning a white teacher who tries to protect her black student from expulsion after he pushes her to the ground. In order to protect himself, the student lies and drags her into a vortex of lies in which victim becomes perpetrator. The play was first produced by

Royal Exchange Theatre The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal Exc ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

before it was transferred to the Lyric Theatre in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It was one of four joint winners of the Bruntwood Playwriting Competition in 2008 and the

George Devine George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education ...

Award for most promising

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

in 2011.

Plot summary

In a tough

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

, a teacher named Amanda is pushed to the ground by a black student named Jason when she tries to intervene in a fight between Jason and a younger foreign student named Firat. Ignoring the advice of her daughter, Becky, to report the incident, Amanda resists telling the headmaster, Chris, for fear of ruining Jason's future. Knowing Jason's history, one which she refuses to reveal to Becky, Amanda feels sorry for Jason. Finally persuaded, the next day she mentions the incident to Chris who is suspicious of why she has waited so long. In the meantime, Jason has enlisted his on-and-off girlfriend Dee and his friends Chug, Saif, Jordan and Chloe to back up his story that Amanda pushed him first and racially abused him. They are hesitant at first but soon change their minds; Chris is forced to take the claims seriously and sends Amanda home. Becky is enraged at their lies and turns to her black stepfather, Peter, to tell Amanda to take the situation seriously and contact her union. Refusing to blow the situation out of proportion, Amanda does nothing and is soon suspended when the kids stick to their stories. Even Firat claims that he didn't see what happened. Amanda feels betrayed by Chris and above all by Jason. Chris calls Jason and his father into school. Jason's father turns out to be quite an intimidating figure; after getting Jason's assurance that he is telling the truth, he demands to know why Chris has not yet reported the incident to the police. Chris agrees to do so. Jason asks his friends to go to the police to volunteer a statement against Amanda and they eventually agree to do so. While waiting late at night for a phone call to tell him what happened at the police station, Jason is interrupted by his father. His father is furious over breaking the house rules regarding late night phone calls. His father answers a call from Dee and tells her that Jason wets the bed. Under severe pressure from Becky, Amanda admits that she feels sorry for Jason because his mother killed herself. Becky begs Firat to tell Chris that he saw Amanda get pushed; he agrees and tells the friends this. Jason is furious and he suspects that they did not really go to the police. After a fight where he slaps Dee, they desert him. Becky confronts Jason alone in the playground and reveals that her own father killed himself, hanging himself with a

Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson is the main protagonist of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' who is part of the titular family. Homer made his television debut in the short " Good Night" on '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' on April 19, ...

tie she had given him for Christmas. Jason is cold toward this revelation, even when she reveals scars across her legs and arms from

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

. They argue furiously and Becky taunts him over his dead mother. The friends, led by Dee, admit to having lied to Chris, who can then drop the charges. Jason is seen in his house making a

noose A noose is a loop at the end of a rope in which the knot tightens under load and can be loosened without untying the knot. The knot can be used to secure a rope to a post, pole, or animal but only where the end is in a position that the loop can ...

for himself in the kitchen and hanging himself. Amanda returns to school but, betrayed by the system she put so much faith in, she refuses to accept Dee's apology and tells Chris that she does not want to return to school anymore.

Reception

The play premiered at the Royal Exchange in

before transferring to the Lyric Theatre in

. The London production used the same in-the-round design by Tom Scutt as the Manchester show. It received generally very favourable reviews with Dominic Cavendish of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' saying, "The play of the year? In my book, quite possibly".

Cast

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mogadishu (Play) British plays Plays about race and ethnicity 2011 plays Plays set in London