Ignorance

by Steve Waters

1949. Small town Colorado. A group of regular American students struggle to accept a foreigner in their midst; their unthinking behaviour will have terrible consequences that are to change world history. In London, sixty years later, a university professor’s work analysing those consequences takes on a frightening personal dimension when Layla Ahmad walks into his office...

Genres: Plays

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2013

Reviews

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read. Definitely highlighted the gaps in my knowledge and understanding.

Felt like quite a lot was packed in, particularly with the two story lines,and would have happily read more. Staging instructions sounded like this would be great to see live too.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting subject that I knew absolutely nothing about:the radicalization of Sayyid Qutb, who was hanged for masterminding an assassination attempt on Nassar in 1966, and who is considered the 'father' of Al Qaeda. The play itself is a bit wonky, however, shifting between two time periods - the present, in which a London professor is trying to finish a book on Qutb; and 1949, when Qutb spent a year in Colorado studying, wherein he became disgusted with Western morals; and unless one is well versed in the history and politics involved, the play is a bit hard to follow (I relied on Wikipedia to fill in the gaps).