The First Domino

Last updated

The First Domino
The First Domino play poster.jpg
Written byJonathan Cash
Date premiered19 May 2009 (2009-05-19) [1]
Place premieredUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish

The First Domino is a 2009 English play about a fictional terrorist bomber, written by Jonathan Cash, who was injured in the 1999 bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, London by David Copeland.

Contents

In 1999, Cash was standing in the pub when the third and final nail-bomb exploded in a campaign targeting minorities. He received compensation, and used it to fund a university course in Dramatic Writing. Some years later, he developed a two-hander play about a convicted terrorist being interviewed in prison by a psychiatrist. It premièred at the Brighton Festival Fringe in May 2009, and received the Best Theatrical Performance Award. It was later adapted for radio.

In 2011, comparisons were drawn between the terror campaign, the play, and the attacks in Norway.

Background

Photograph showing Cash, injured, moments after the bomb. Jonathan Cash Brixton Nail Bomb 1999 CCTV.png
Photograph showing Cash, injured, moments after the bomb.

The First Domino play takes its name from the domino effect, and was written as a response to a real-world nail bomb attack. [2]

In 1999, David Copeland, a Neo-Nazi and former member of the British National Party, who was found to have decorated his bedroom with Nazi symbols and collected news stories on racist attacks, [3] [4] intended to stir up ethnic and homophobic tension with a series of bombs targeting the minority communities of London. [5] The first attack was in the largely black community of Brixton on Saturday, 17 April 1999. The second hit the Asian community of Brick Lane on Saturday, 24 April 1999. [6] The third took place at a pub in Old Compton Street, Soho – the heart of London's gay community. [5]

On Friday 30 April 1999, a sunny evening after work, Jonathan Cash –author of the play [3]  –had agreed to meet two friends in the Admiral Duncan, as was usual for them. [7] While he waited, patrons noticed an unattended bag. The previous two bombs had made Londoners wary; although they had been described as race-hate attacks, police had issued a warning that a gay bar could be the bomber's next target, and The Yard – another pub in the area – had displayed a poster warning customers to be alert. [3] The Admiral Duncan bomb, a home made device of fertiliser and nails, exploded at 6:37 p.m. [7]

It was the loudest, most alien noise I have ever heard. It ripped through the building. I really can't say how long it lasted; a few seconds perhaps. I can't remember, but there was a crunch of something solid, something structural. But what I can remember is the acrid smell, the sulphurous dust. My ears were ringing, my eyes were smarting, the dust filled my nose making it hard to breathe.

— Jonathan Cash, Pink News [7]
The Soho gay bar where the final bombing occurred AdmiralDuncan.jpg
The Soho gay bar where the final bombing occurred

Three people died as a result of the blast (including a pregnant woman) and many more were seriously hurt, [4] including Cash, who was standing close to the bomb; he received injuries to his back and shoulder, and burns to his face and legs. [1] [2]

David Copeland was convicted of murder on 30 June 2000, and given six concurrent life sentences. [8] He had been diagnosed by five psychiatrists as having paranoid schizophrenia. [9] In 2007, the High Court ruled that he must serve at least 50 years. [10]

Cash received financial compensation, and used it to fund an MA in Dramatic Writing at the University of Sussex, saying he "wanted to do something positive with the money". [1]

Cash perceived Copeland as wanting to be the first domino, setting off a race war. [4]

Plot

The opening scene shows a young man kneeling on a Union Jack, manufacturing a bomb, which is left menacingly on the stage. [11] We meet him some time later, in a top-security prison, convicted for terrorism. He is interviewed by a psychiatrist who is engaged in research on sociopaths for an academic paper. The bomber's belief system, incorporating violent racism and homophobia, is revealed  –causing the audience to question their own beliefs. [11] A series of psychological games starts between the prisoner and the psychiatrist, which challenges the audience's conceptions. Secrets are gradually revealed, reality is distorted, and the play ends with a surprising twist. [12] It is a play about hatred, which illustrates how violence breeds more violence. The complex relationship between bomber and psychiatrist fails to result in a solution. [11]

Reception

A preview in The Guardian in May 2009 said it had "surprising twists [...] as the plot thickens", [1] and one reviewer said it was "one of the most honest and hard hitting plays I have seen". [13] The play received that year's Best Theatrical Performance Award. [14]

A representative of the Gay Police Association hoped the play would raise awareness; the GPA helped to raise money for producing it, and recollections from the police influenced the story. [1]

Development

It was several years after the bombing before Cash was able to write about the events with objectivity. [1] He wrote The First Domino as part of his M.A. Dramatic Writing course at the University of Sussex, [2] where he met Faynia Williams, who encouraged the development and directed the production. [1] [2]

The play was produced by the Brighton Theatre and directed by Williams. [2] It was a two-hander about a fictional terrorist being interviewed by a psychiatrist in a top-security prison. Danny Seldon (who used to be a marine [1] ) played the part of the terrorist, the doctor was played by Cary Crankson, and music was by Rory Cameron. [15] [13] with "surprising twists". [1]

Cash and Williams's production company, Brighton Theatre, presented the play at Brighton Festival Fringe on 19 May 2009, close to the 10th anniversary of the bombing (though they state the date was coincidental). [1] [14] It was described as "honest and hard-hitting". [13]

Cash was then commissioned by production company Unique (part of UBC Media Group) to rewrite the play for BBC Radio 3's series of single dramas The Wire. The completely re-imagined piece was first broadcast on Saturday, 9 October 2010. [14] The cast list included Toby Jones, Joseph Kloska, Claire Price and Struan Rodger. [14] [16]

Less than a year later, Cash was quoted in The Guardian in a piece reacting to the 2011 Norway attacks as conclusions were reached about the similarities between David Copeland and Anders Behring Breivik. [17] Cash said, "It has made me think about the words people use. How they create a landscape. When someone is being bigoted or homophobic, everybody should be asking questions". [17]

Related Research Articles

The 1999 London nail bombings were a series of bomb explosions in London, England. Over three successive weekends between 17 and 30 April 1999, homemade nail bombs were detonated respectively in Brixton in South London; at Brick Lane, Spitalfields, in the East End; and at the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho in the West End. Each bomb contained up to 1,500 4-inch (100 mm) nails, in holdalls that were left in public spaces. The bombs killed three people and injured 140 people, four of whom lost limbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton hotel bombing</span> 1984 IRA attempt to kill Margaret Thatcher

On 12 October 1984, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attempted to assassinate members of the British government at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. A long-delay time bomb was planted in the hotel by Patrick Magee before Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet arrived for the Conservative Party conference. Five people were killed, including the Conservative MP and Deputy Chief Whip Sir Anthony Berry, and a further 31 were injured. Thatcher narrowly escaped the explosion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Compton Street</span> Street in the West End of London

Old Compton Street is a road that runs east–west through Soho in the West End of London, named after Henry Compton who raised funds for St Anne's Church in 1686. The area, particularly this street, became home to French Protestant refugees in 1681. Known for its diverse and artistic traditions, the street housed businesses, artists, philosophers, and was frequented by communists and proto-beatniks. The Algerian Coffee Stores, one of the oldest shops on the street, was established in 1887. Post World War II, the street became a center for modern and trad jazz. Since the 1970s, Old Compton Street has been a focal point for London's gay community, with numerous gay bars, restaurants, and specialty shops. The Admiral Duncan pub, a notable gay venue, was bombed in 1999 in a hate crime attack. The street is also home to the Prince Edward Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiral Duncan (pub)</span> Gay pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, London

The Admiral Duncan is a public house in Old Compton Street, Soho, in central London that is well known as one of Soho's oldest gay pubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nail bomb</span> Anti-personnel explosive device

A nail bomb is an anti-personnel explosive device containing nails to increase its effectiveness at harming victims. The nails act as shrapnel, leading almost certainly to more injury in inhabited areas than the explosives alone would. A nail bomb is also a type of flechette weapon. Such weapons use bits of shrapnel to create a larger radius of destruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of David Morley</span>

David Roger Morley was a barman who was fatally attacked by a group of youths near Waterloo station in London on the morning of 30 October 2004. The attack garnered widespread media coverage as a fatality of a violent trend known as happy slapping and due to the belief that the attack was motivated by homophobia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HM Prison Belmarsh</span> Mens prison in Thamesmead, London, England

His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is a Category A men's prison in Thamesmead, southeast London, England. The prison is used in high-profile cases, particularly those concerning national security. Within the prison grounds is the High Security Unit (HSU), which consists of 48 single cells. It is run by His Majesty's Prison Service. The prison has been called "Britain's Guantanamo Bay" due to the long-term detention of terrorism suspects without charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7 July 2005 London bombings</span> Islamist terrorist suicide attacks in London

The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on London's public transport during the morning rush hour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Sidique Khan</span> Al Qaeda suicide bomber

Mohammad Sidique Khan was a Pakistani-British terrorist and the oldest of the four Islamist suicide bombers and believed to be the leader responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which bombs were detonated on three London Underground trains and one bus in central London, suicide attacks, killing 56 people including the attackers and injuring over 700. Khan bombed the Edgware Road train killing himself and six other people.

Muluemebet (Mulu) Girma was the third person charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 over the 21 July 2005 London bombings, along with her sister Yeshshiemebet Girma. She was charged with "failing to disclose information that could have helped police secure the arrest, prosecution or conviction of a person involved in terrorism", convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment.

Patrick Joseph Magee is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, best known for planting a bomb in the Brighton Grand Hotel targeting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet, which killed five people. He is often referred to as the Brighton bomber.

The White Wolves was a British neo-Nazi and white supremacist terrorist organisation that claimed to adhere to the doctrine of leaderless resistance, which claimed responsibility for several racially motivated bombings in London in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom</span> Aspect of history

The history of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex individuals (LGBTQI), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United Kingdom. Those targeted by such violence are perceived to violate heteronormative rules and religious beliefs and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBTQI may also be targeted.

John Stanley is a British playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the writer of Proud, a play written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Admiral Duncan bombing in Soho, London, and as the screenwriter of the British thriller/horror feature film The Last Seven.

Events from 1999 in England

The LGBT community in London is one of the largest within Europe. LGBT culture of London, England, is centred on Old Compton Street in Soho. There are also LGBT pubs and restaurants across London in Haggerston, Dalston and Vauxhall.

St Anne's Churchyard, also known as St Anne's Gardens, is a public park on Wardour Street in Soho, London. Formerly the churchyard of St Anne's, Soho, it was closed to burials in 1853. It rises 6 ft above the pavement, because of the 13,000 burials within it. It was laid out as a garden by the landscape gardener Fanny Wilkinson on behalf of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in 1891. It was opened to the public by Lady Hobhouse in 1892. The London plane trees remain a notable feature of the garden. It is managed by Westminster City Council and has received the Green Flag Award.

Graeme McLagan is a British journalist who was Home Affairs correspondent for BBC News, specialising in crime and the police about which he has written three books.

<i>Nail Bomber: Manhunt</i> 2021 British true crime documentary film

Nail Bomber: Manhunt is a 2021 Netflix Original true crime documentary film about the 1999 London nail bombings.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ella Marshall (13 May 2009). "Jonathan Cash has written a play based around the Soho pub bombing". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Emily-Ann Elliott (5 May 2009). "Bomb survivor writes Brighton play". The Argus . Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Simon Edge. "Look Back in Anger". Gay Times. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "On This Day: Dozens injured in Soho nail bomb". BBC. 30 April 1999. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Outrage marks new departure not just for Norway but for Europe in general – The Irish Times – Mon, Jul 25, 2011". 25 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  6. ↑ Nick Hopkins, Sarah Hall (30 June 2000). "David Copeland: a quiet introvert, obsessed with Hitler and bombs". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 Jonathan Cash (30 April 2009). "Admiral Duncan bombing: The day my life changed forever". Pink News. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  8. ↑ Buncombe, Andrew; Judd, Terri; and Bennett, Jason. "'Hate-filled' nailbomber is jailed for life", The Independent, 30 June 2000.
  9. ↑ Hopkins, Nick and Hall, Sarah. "David Copeland: a quiet introvert, obsessed with Hitler and bombs", The Guardian, 30 June 2000.
  10. ↑ Attewill, Fred. "London nail bomber must serve at least 50 years", The Guardian, 2 March 2007.
  11. 1 2 3 Nicholas Quirke. "Brighton Fringe 2009, The First Domino". Fringe Review. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  12. ↑ "Jonathan Cash". The Playwrights Database. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 Howard Young (20 May 2009). "Honest & Hard Hitting Play Based on Real Issues & Difficult Topics @ Latest Music Bar". Brighton Magazine. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Programmes – The Wire, The First Domino". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  15. ↑ "Latest Homes Magazine » Archive » Living in Brighton: Rory Cameron" . Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  16. ↑ "The First Domino". Unique production company, UBC Media Group . Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  17. 1 2 Hugh Muir (26 July 2011). "Hideously diverse Britain: Fighting the domino effect of intolerance". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.