Jan Woolf worked as the writer in residence at an archaeological dig in Jordan in 2016. She has written this play around a modern day exhibition of the real artefacts found on the dig. An archaeologist Dr Caroline Howard (Suzanne Hamilton) is curating the exhibition. She is of the generation for whom David Lean’s film of Lawrence of Arabia inspired many to investigate TE Lawrence and/or to follow Peter O’Toole who gave an outstanding performance as the man himself, despite being several inches taller and wearing bright blue contact lenses and bleaching his hair. I even read some of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Lawrence’s book about the Arab Revolt.

Douglas Clarke-Wood plays the ghost of Lawrence visiting the exhibition. Helping Dr Howard unpack and display the artefacts is Muzz (Mascuud Dahir) who is of Iraqi descent. 2016 was the centenary of the Arab Revolt. We hear about the war against the Ottoman Empire and the consequent division of Syria by England and France, the Blue Zone being French and the Red Zone British. The British person who drew the line in the sand couldn’t speak French, let alone Arabic! Does this remind you of the division of India and Pakistan in 1947?

The first part of the play, Blood recalls the warfare, the fighting, the killing, the weaponry used, artefacts of a grenade and a military button. Part Two is about the Gold, the money, the £10,000 reward from the Turks for the capture of Lawrence. We see Lawrence in his army uniform answering questions from the archaeologist about his childhood as one of four illegitimate sons of an Irish baronet and the former governess to his daughters. Lawrence says that in comparison to his life in England he wasn’t judged by Arab society but accepted. Lawrence wants to apologise to the Arabs for the destruction of their, and his, dream of a unified Arab nation.