Trauma Drama: Victims’ Traumatic Memories in Kay Adshead’s the Bogus Woman (2001) and Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Credible Witness (2001).

In our contemporary society there exists a fascination with trauma and testimony. Thus, my paper looks at traumatised protagonists in the above-mentioned plays that testify to the manifold victimization of asylum seekers. First they were tortured and persecuted in their home countries, and then subjected to new traumatic humiliation in prison-like detention centres in Great Britain. Both plays assume a political position by appealing to the individual conscience of the audience who, through the characters’ outrageous narration, become witnesses to appalling violations of human rights.