Photo Flash: David Greig's DAMASCUS

The original Traverse Theatre Company cast - Nathalie Armin, Alex Elliott, Dolya Gavanski, Paul Higgins and Khalid Laith - will reprise their roles.

Welcome to Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth, a jewel of the Arab world and the crossroads of the Middle East. Paul is here to sell English-language textbooks. It's Valentine's Day and he'd rather be at home with his wife. As he begins negotiations with his Syrian contact, Muna, misunderstandings multiply until their presumptions about one another fall away and new possibilities emerge. In this city of transformations, Paul grapples with language and love, meanings and misconceptions. And as his flight home is delayed by a bomb in Beirut Airport, he begins to wonder - will he ever leave?

Nathalie Armin's (Muna) theatre credits include References to Salvador Dali (Arcola Theatre), Othello (Royal Shakespeare Company), Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self (Royal Court), A Day Like Today (Young Vic), Shameless (Birmingham Rep and Soho Theatre) and the St Pancras Project (LIFT). Her television credits include The Fixer, Spooks, William and Mary, EastEnders and The English Harem.

Alex Elliott's (Wasim) theatre credits include Como Agua Para Chocolate (Théâtre Sans Frontières), Writing Wrong (Customs House, South Shields), Grace (Quarantine), A Clockwork Orange, Edmond, Glengarry Glen Ross, Smirnova's Birthday, Tiger's Bride (Northern Stage), Homage to Catalonia (Northern Stage/ T. Romea), Out of Nothing, One Day 49 (Le Styx) and Pandora's Box (Kneehigh). His film and television credits include Waterloo Road, Emmerdale, The Royal, EastEnders, Cold Lazarus, Wycliffe and Soldier Soldier.

Dolya Gavanski's (Elena) theatre credits include The Car Cemetery (Gate Theatre), Rock ‘n' Roll (Duke of York's Theatre), Nirvana (Riverside Studios) as well as Serious Money, Trojan Women and Electra (Cambridge Arts Theatre). Her film and television credits include Emmerdale, Spooks and Leonardo: The Secret Life of Mona Lisa.

Paul Higgins' (Paul) theatre credits include Prospero in The Tempest (Tron Theatre), Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland), Paul and An Enemy of the People (National Theatre), The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman he Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (Donmar Warehouse), Macbeth and Conversations After a Burial (Almeida Theatre) and Measure for Measure (Royal Shakespeare Company). His television credits include The Thick of It, Beating Jesus, Dangerfield, Tumbledown and A Very Peculiar Practice. His film credits include Red Road, Beautiful Creatures, Complicity and Bedrooms and Hallways.

Khalid Laith's (Zakaria) theatre credits include Leaving Home (King's Head Theatre). Television credits include The Bill, Saddam's Tribe, The Mark of Cain, The Hamburg Cell, Spooks and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

David Greig's plays include Midsummer, Outlying Islands and Europe for the Traverse, The American Pilot (Royal Shakespeare Company and Soho Theatre), Ramallah (Royal Court), Pyrenees (Paines Plough), Caligula and The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (Donmar Warehouse). Greig's version of Euripides' The Bacchae, which premiered at the 2007 Edinburgh International Festival, subsequently transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith and his version of Strindberg's Creditors has recently completed a run at the Donmar Warehouse.

Damascus marks David Greig's sixth collaboration with Philip Howard, former Artistic Director of the Traverse Theatre (1996 -2007). During his time as Artistic Director, Howard presented twenty-one world premieres.

Following the Tricycle run Damascus will tour to North Africa and the Near East, supported by The British Council. Damascus received its world premiere at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe in 2007, where it was a Scotsman Fringe First award winner.

Tricycle Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 7JR

Phone 020 7328 1000
In person 10am - 9pm, Monday - Saturday, 2 - 9pm on Sundays
On-line www.ticketweb.co.uk

Tickets from £10 - £20 (with reductions available)
Early bird tickets at £8 are available for the first 80 seats at performances from 3 -7 February matinee

Website www.tricycle.co.uk Ch
Performances Monday - Saturday at 8pm
Midweek matinees at 2pm on 25 February & 4 March
Saturday matinees at 4pm
Press night at 7pm
CAFÉ-BAR

The Tricycle Café-Bar is open from 12.30pm - 3pm and 5.30pm - 9pm, Monday to Friday and 10am - 9pm on Saturday serving food. The Tricycle Bar is open from 12noon - 11pm Monday to Saturday and 2pm - 9pm on Sunday, serving drinks and snacks.

TRANSPORT
Tube: Kilburn (Jubilee Line)
Bus: 16, 31, 32, 98, 189, 206, 316, 328
Train: Brondesbury (London overground)

Photo credit Tristram Kenton