Photo Flash: First Look at Arcola Theatre's SHRAPNEL: 34 FRAGMENTS OF A MASSACRE

Watching video footage from a drone, Pentagon officials see a huddle of people - unarmed smugglers, with mules - treading their familiar path across the Turkish-Iraqi border. Hours later, Turkish Armed Forces drop bombs on the group. 34 civilians are killed.

The Roboski massacre is one of the most controversial episodes in the 'war on terror'. Piecing together the fragments of the tragedy, Anders Lustgarten's startling new play, Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre, dares to ask what a massacre is made of.

Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre is a story of malicious commands and mournful commemorations; an urgent, powerful insight into the state of modern warfare. It is the first of two urgent political plays directed by Arcola Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen in the current season. The second, Clarion, by former Fleet Street journalist Mark Jagasia, an urgent black comedy about free speech, nationalism and the state of the British media, opens in April.

Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre will get its World Premiere Wednesday 11 March - Thurday 2 April. Press night is Monday March 16 at 7:30pm.

Cast: Tuncay Akp?nar, Josef Altin, Karina Fernandez, David Kirkbride, Aslam Percival Husain, Ryan Wichert

Anders Lustgarten says: "I used to work for a Kurdish human rights group, and I want the victims of the Roboski killings to have the voice they've been denied. But I also want to ask a pointed question: who's responsible for a massacre? Is it only the soldier who presses the button or fires the shots? What about the politicians who can't inspire with anything except hatred? The media that plays along, fulminating or fearful? The nerdy technocrats who make the bombs and clock off at 5pm? This story could be about Gaza, or Iraq, or any of the many modern assaults on poor people by industrialised societies. It's a play, fundamentally, about complicity."

Mehmet Ergen says: "This is the first of two powerful political plays receiving their world premieres in the Arcola's new season. Clarion will question the state of the British media; Shrapnel the state of modern warfare. Both are vital and urgent subjects, especially in the run up to the general election."

Anders Lustgarten won the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwright's Award for If You Don't Let Us Dream We Won't Let You Sleep at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs. He is currently under commission to the Royal Court and the National Theatre among several others, and is also adapting David Peace's The Damned United for a national stage tour. His newest plays are Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre and Lampedusa, which will premiere at Soho Theatre in April. As a long-standing political activist, he's been arrested in four continents.

Photos by Nick Rutter