Insane Asylum Seekers

A new play by Laith Elzubaidi, presented in its world premiere at the Bush Theatre in London, that follows a British-Iraqi family across a century of past and present.

Insane Asylum Seekers is a comedy-drama that traces a British-Iraqi family over a hundred years, moving back and forth between past and present. Its central figure is 27-year-old Laith, who has kept a secret for years and now finds it catching up with him. Alongside that pressure, he manages his mother's habit of throwing things at seagulls and his father's tendency to wander off in dangerous situations. The play asks whether the past ever really ends.

The play is written by Laith Elzubaidi, a British-Iraqi comedy and drama writer who co-produced Soho Theatre's Hakaya: A British-Arab Variety Show and founded the British-Arab Writers Group, a group of more than 200 writers. Elzubaidi also wrote and directed the sci-fi short Panic! and was part of the writers'room for BBC's Bad Education. The production is directed by Olivier Award nominee Emily Ling Williams, whose credits include A Playlist for the Revolution.

Tommy Sim'aan plays Laith. Sim'aan has appeared in The Fear of 13 and Starcrossed. The production is staged at the Bush Theatre, a London theatre, as a world premiere.