When I first began writing The American Pilot , Afghanistan had been invaded by the coalition forces and Osama Bin Laden was on the run. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair were making belligerent noises about invading Iraq. I didn’t believe they would do it. Not actually invade Iraq. It just seemed like too crazy an idea. I thought it was all just sabre rattling. So, while the play was obviously a comment on the world as I saw it, it was definitely not written to oppose the Iraq war or indeed any war. In fact, the play’s apparent politics, as they emerged, surprised me.
Where could it have come from? What were the formative experiences of the play? The only event I know for sure went into the play was an experience I had in 2000 in Ramallah, Palestine. I was doing workshops for young playwrights there when there was a dreadful suicide bomb in Tel Aviv. In retaliation some Israeli F16’s bombed Ramallah. A sound like a great zip tearing open the sky followed by a sharp firecrackerish bang. An Israeli actor who had fought in Lebanon told me once that ‘it’s not the bomb that’s fallen that scares you –it’s the thought of the one that’s coming next.’ My apartment was in the centre of Ramallah next to a radio mast. Was it a target? I didn’t know. I spent a horrible night feeling first afraid, then impotent, then finally deeply enraged at the force which had made me feel these feelings of weakness and fear. I remember thinking – if politicians knew what it feels like to be bombed they might see that bombing creates as many enemies as it destroys.
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