A piece of verbatim theatre, it is compiled from the words of real women whose husbands are or were held without trial as terror suspects. There are 5 main parts, two of which are sung by classically trained sopranos accompanied by the haunting notes of the cello.

All the characters are real people, living in England. The words are their own. They come from varied cultures and places such as Senegal, France, Jordan, Palestine, and the English Midlands. In previous lives some have been basketball stars, or teachers, others came from households where they were not even privy to many family decisions and did nothing outside the home.

Most came to the UK as refugees, or married refugees here. They, or their husbands, chose Britain because they believed it was synonymous with tolerance, justice, fairness, the rule of law, freedom of speech, and they were in flight from countries where their husbands or fathers had been murdered, tortured or imprisoned. Britain was where they felt safe, and they relished the opportunity to give their children an education.

With the launch of the “war on terror” after September 11 2001, the safe world vanished almost overnight. One after another they were engulfed by private terror. Their husbands were kidnapped abroad by the US and held without trial at Guantanamo, or arrested here and imprisoned without trial.

After such detention was ruled illegal by Britain’s law lords the men were put under house arrest with an electronic tag and draconian conditions virtually preventing them from meeting anyone. After the London bombings of july 2005 they were rearrested and threatened with deportation to the very places they fled. Some have gone back rather than face prolonged legal battles or indefinite time under Control orders. Some of those are in prison again in their own country and have been tortured.