A Museum in Baghdad

An ambitious new play explores what it means to try and create a nation – and why a country’s treasures matter when people are dying.

This is about my responsibility. Doing what is right. Being where I’m needed. I’ve started a job and I must finish it. I owe it to the people of Iraq.

In 1926, the nation of Iraq is in its infancy, and British archaeologist Gertrude Bell is founding a museum in Baghdad. In 2006, Ghalia Hussein is attempting to reopen the museum after looting during the war.

Decades apart, these two women share the same goals: to create a fresh sense of unity and nationhood, to make the world anew through the museum and its treasures. But in such unstable times, questions remain. Who is the museum for? Whose culture are we preserving? And why does it matter when people are dying?

A story of treasured history, desperate choices and the remarkable Gertrude Bell. This edition of Hannah Khalil's epic new play was published to coincide with the world premiere at the RSC's The Other Place in 2019.