Amongst Barbarians
Amongst Barbarians is
* a play (
1989) by British playwright
Michael Wall; and
* a British made-for-TV movie (
1990) directed by
Jane Howell starring
David Jason,
Anne Carroll,
Rowena Cooper,
Con O'Neill and
Lee Ross.
Amongst Barbarians is set far away from
Margaret Thatcher's Britain in
Penang,
Malaysia, a former British colony, where two young Englishmen have been arrested for
drug trafficking. As they both face the death penalty, their relatives travel to Penang to come to their rescue. However, they soon find out that there is nothing they can do to save the boys' lives. In the course of their futile attempts at influencing the authorities, their
racism becomes more than apparent. The question which is never made explicit is of course who the real
barbarians are.
Wall's play is based on a true story.
