Other Side

An old man and an old woman live in a hut near the border between two states, Tomis and Constanza, which have been constantly at war with each other for thirty years. The man comes from Tomis, the woman from Constanza. Their job is to collect bodies from the battlefield, log them with skin and hair samples, and bury them in temporary graves to await proper identification. Suddenly the shelling stops and a guard arrives to impose a border right through the middle of their house, insisting that the man stay one side, the woman the other...Ever since having to leave his native Chile when the democratic government was overthrown by General Pinochet, Ariel Dorfman has written on 'big' themes: torture in Death and the Maiden, state-sponsored 'disappearance' in Widows, and censorship in Reader. This new play, The Other Side, dealing with the grim absurdity of war and the borders over which it is fought, is his most powerful piece since Death and the Maiden. The Other Side is premiered in a production by Peter Hall starring Zoe Wanamaker and Bill Paterson. It opens at Bath Theatre Royal, then tours before coming in to the West End.