''Palace of the End'' is a play by

Judith Thompson Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canada, the Walter Carsen Performi ...

, that consists of three monologues telling tales related to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The first two are based on real people

Lynndie England Lynndie Rana England (born November 8, 1982) is a former United States Army Reserve soldier who was prosecuted for mistreating detainees during the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse that occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad during the ...

and David Kelly and the third is fictional. ''Palace of the End'' was published in 2007 by

Playwrights Canada Press Playwrights Canada Press is a Canadian publishing house founded in 1984 by the Playwrights Guild of Canada. It was incorporated in 2000 as an independent company. Notable books *''The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God'', Djanet Sears ( ...

. The play ran in Los Angeles in 2007, at

Canadian Stage Company Canadian Stage is a Canadian non-profit contemporary theatre company, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History The company was founded in 1988 with the merger of Centre Stage and Toronto Free Theatre. Canadian Stage has produced more than 3 ...

in Toronto in 2008, at

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit American Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. ...

in New York in 2008, at the Frank Theatre Studio in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota, in 2009 and at the

Arcola Theatre Arcola Theatre is in the London Borough of Hackney. It presents plays, operas and musicals featuring established and emerging artists. The theatre building, in the former Colourworks paint factory on Ashwin Street, Dalston, houses two studio ...

in London in 2010. It won the 2007–08

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

and the

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Freedom of Expression Awards Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...

at the 2009

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

The monologues

The monologue’s titles are "My Pyramids", "Harrowdown Hill", and "Instruments of Yearning". “My Pyramids” refers to the

Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib ( or ; ) is a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghra ...

human pyramids. The speaker is

, the United States Army reservist who become the face of the

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency were accused of a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These abuses ...

, and who is said to have made prisoners form human pyramids. "Harrowdown Hill" refers to the place where the body of Dr. David Kelly was found a few weeks after he confessed to a journalist that he had lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Kelly was a British weapons inspector in Iraq. "Instruments of Yearning" refers to the Jihaz al-Haneen, the secret police of the

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...

who detained fictional character Nehrjas Al Saffarh, an Iraqi communist, in 1963. Saffarh survived but was killed during United States bombing in the 1991

Persian Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

References

Plays by Judith Thompson {{Canada-theat-stub

The monologues

See also

References