Hannah does not divide the play into Acts or numbered scenes, not because she wants to make life difficult for anyone studying or performing the play, but to help accentuate the permeability of the scenes and the timelines and to create an unbroken thread of action in the single space of the museum. 

So what follows is a breakdown of the basic action of the scenes, in chronological order 

 

The opening scene functions like a prologue, where ‘three important people from the three time periods of the play, THEN, NOW and LATER, each cut a ribbon and declare the museum open 

·         Q: Why do you think Gertrude, Ghalia and Abu Zaman talk directly to the  audience here? 

 

THEN: Gertrude is preparing for the opening of the museum and is visited by Woolley, who has been leading an archaeological dig at a burial site in Kish. She asks for his help to be ready in time for the opening; in return he asks for one of her most prized objects, a statue of a goddess, to be loaned to the British Museum. Abu Zaman tosses a coin to decide its fate and Woolley wins. Abu Zaman is trying to affect the future with this action. He then watches a ‘vision of what’s to come’ (LATER) in which Mohammed is abducted from the museum. His efforts to shape the future have been in vain. 

·         Q: Why do you think Gertrude suggests the coin toss decide the fate of the statue? 

 

NOW: Layla and Mohammed are logging items in the museum ahead of the reopening, under the watch of Private Sam York. Layla points out that now is a bit late for US protection and has a laugh with Mohammed that US soldiers are issued playing cards to illustrate the valuable artefacts that remain missing post-looting. Their subsequent game with the cards is interrupted by the arrival of Museum Director Ghalia, who is annoyed to have received a government edict to open in a few weeks; far sooner than she thinks is safe. There is also an interlude within the scene where Gertrude extols her plans for the display of the collection to her enthusiastic assistant Salim. 

·         Q: How do you think York’s ethnic and cultural identity might inform her attitude towards the museum and its staff? 

 

THEN/NOW/LATER: Abu Zaman, with the Chorus, shares with us his intention: ‘we must all try to make the future the best we can’; his gift: ‘a clear sight of what had happened in the distant past; and his concern:  ‘who knows what’s to come?’ We also hear a succession of images that bear witness to the recent conflict 

·         Q: How do you think Abu Zaman and the Chorus want to affect the audience in this scene? 

 

THEN: Salim labels cylinder seals ahead of the original opening, while  Ghalia simultaneously trawls eBay trying to track down the very same seals - stolen during the looting. Gertrude is amazed to receive a crown that has been handed in by a member of the public; Abu Zaman explains it is a tradition that after heavy rain locals ‘pick whatever the earth has given up’, considering whatever they find to be good omens. Despite receiving a letter summoning her back to London, Gertrude’s determination for the museum to be a success is stronger than ever. 

·         Watch an extended extract of this scene: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o7cp4V0cEpU  

·         Q: Abu Zaman says Gertrude is ‘truly an Arab’. Do you think she sees herself in this way? Does her Englishness matter to her? 

 

NOW: Ghalia argues that the statue of the goddess should be locked safely in the basement; Layla insists she shouldn’t even be in Baghdad,  but in a community museum near the site where she was found;  Mohammed pleads that the statue goes on public display to help the museum become a ‘tourist destination’. In the other timeframe, Woolley continues to covet the statue for the British Museum’s collection, but  Gertrude holds firm. Ghalia relents and agrees for the statue to be displayed in a case of reinforced glass, but Layla warns ‘there is much worse than looting to come’ 

·         Watch an extract of this scene from 2.16: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o7cp4V0cEpU   

·         Q: Abu Zaman describes Ghalia as a camel without a desert’. What do you think he means by this? What suggestions does it offer about her character? 

 

THEN/NOW/LATER: Abu Zaman and the Chorus tell the story of an ancient tribe of women who lived independently of men; until one day they were burned to death by the jilted men. Their descendants were spared, but repatriated into a male-dominated world, ‘the truth about their past they never knew’ 

·         Q: How significant do you think gender is in Gertrude and Ghalia’s struggles to open the museum? Can you imagine what the play might be like if these directors were men? 

 

THEN: Woolley delivers word from the King that the museum needs to open in a few weeks, to ‘let the people know we are doing something’. Gertrude is miffed not to have heard directly from the King but accepts the challenge  

·         Q: What else is going on in this scene? What do you think lies under the surface of their exchange? 

 

NOW: Private York confides to Layla that she has bought a rare map for a high price from the book-selling quarter in Mutanabbi Street and feels guilty about it. The map belonged to King Faisal and now she wants to anonymously return it to the museum, just as other artefacts are being voluntarily returned by members of the public. Layla questions whether an American soldier’s conscience should be wrestling with buying a map, of all things, before declaring it a fake 

·         Q: What level of trust do you think exists between these characters? Has it been strengthened or weakened by the end of the scene?

 

THEN: As we approach the midpoint in the play, the action takes a new direction. Just before the scene, Abu Zaman holds the coin up and shines it. He wants to steer the action in a different direction so that he might affect a new future, and so we return to the same dialogue and situation we encountered at the beginning of the play. On this occasion, though, a  jubilant Gertrude wins the coin toss and the statue stays in Baghdad.  Woolley cautions that this a grave mistake and civil unrest is brewing.  Abu Zaman professes his hope that if the statue ‘stays here. Educates people – things might be different. As he peers through the case at the  end of the scene though to catch a vision of the future, the outcome he is hoping to change remains the same: Mohammed is abducted. 

·         Q: Is our relationship to the representation of the past affected by seeing two different versions of reality being played out? 

 

NOW: Ghalia opens a box Abu Zaman has given her that has been handed in anonymously. It contains the same jewelled crown from Ur that Gertrude was amazed to receive. Objects, like characters, can exist in and across timelines. Their excitement is derailed by a renewed argument about whether, and how, it should be displayed for the reopening. Ghalia, and Abu Zaman, fear a return of the looters and they go to call the minister. York insists this object was made to be worn. She straddles timelines by lifting it from Gertrude’s hands and handing it to  Layla, who removes her hijab and places it on her head. Gertrude sees  Layla as a vision of the goddess and faints. Ghalia and co come running back in, hearing a noise, and are shocked to see Layla like this. 

·         Q: Many lines in this scene relate to the characters’ identities. How has this  interaction with an object created a sense of change for each character? 

 

THEN/NOW: Gertrude attributes her vision of the goddess to a heat-infused daydream, but Salim suggests it is a sign that she should stay on permanently as the director of the museum. He shares his hope that his notional daughter and granddaughter will ‘find inspiration. Through these things. And they will change the world. His optimism is tempered by his living memory of the British bombing the region’s many tribes to suppress a recent uprising. Layla too laments the intervention of a  foreign power – her eyes failing her now after years of studying by oil lamp due to sanctions. Mohammed floats the idea of his uncle, the minister of  tourism, enabling them to lead an on-site archaeological dig together. Layla doesn’t say no… 

·         Q: How close do you imagine the two sets of characters to be on stage? Would you want to keep them separate, or for them to have physical interaction through glances, movements or objects? 

 

THEN: Gertrude has summoned Woolley from Ur in the hope that he might help her prepare for the opening, just as occurred in the initial version of this timeline. He relates his discovery of a burial site at Ur,  which includes the remains of 68 women. He marvels at how they ‘composed themselves for death’ but Gertrude sees only ‘nameless,  forgotten, dead, burnt women’ 

·         Q: In what ways do you think Gertrude and Woolley are similar, and in what ways are they different? 

 

THEN/NOW/LATER: Abu Zaman and the Chorus hear a noise, distant at first, which moves steadily closer until it becomes ‘deafening’. The swell of sound is joined by a wave, as images of destruction and hostile nature allude to the floods and unrest in 1926 and the looting and unease in  2006. And the question of what is to come?