Insane Asylum Seekers

More about Insane Asylum Seekers

The world premiere of the Tony Craze Award-winning play, Insane Asylum Seekers, comes to the Bush Theatre. Book Insane Asylum Seekers tickets on London Theatre.

This moving and hilarious tale explores the British-Iraqi refugee experience. The play masterfully tells a multi-generational story spanning 100 years of a British-Iraqi family, seamlessly shifting between the past and the present. The show begs the question: does the past ever end?

Insane Asylum Seekers focuses primarily on the experience of 27-year-old Laith, who was able to keep a secret for years but now it’s catching up with him. As Laith said, “At 27, my dad had escaped multiple bloodthirsty dictatorships. I’m 27, I had a panic attack watching the final episode of Succession.” Between that and his mother continuously throwing things at seagulls and his father wandering away during dangerous situations, it’s a lot to manage.

Insane Asylum Seekers in London stars Tommy Sim’aan as Laith. Sim’aan is known for starring in The Fear of 13, as well as Starcrossed, which earned him a nomination for Best Performer in a Play at the 2022 Stage Debut Awards.

Insane Asylum Seekers is a play by Laith Elzubaidi, a British-Iraqi comedy and drama writer. Elzubaidi is the co-producer of Soho Theatre’s Hakaya: A British-Arab Variety Show. He also founded the British-Arab Writers Group, which is a group of over 200 writers. His credits include writing and directing the sci-fi short film Panic!, and he was part of the writer's room for BBC’s Bad Education.

This exceptional play is directed by Olivier Award-nominee Emily Ling Williams (A Playlist for the Revolution).