When What I Heard About Iraq opened in America it caused a sensation. According to British director Hannah Eidinow, a married couple with differing views nearly divorced and the lengthy after-show debates nearly ended in fist fights.

"It caused a furore," she says. "After show discussions would go on until 1am. Everyone wanted to talk, because at the time in America people were quite pro-Iraq."

What I Heard About Iraq made its British debut at last year's Edinburgh Festival and is based on an article by Eliot Weinberger published in the London Review of Books. Using nothing but the documented statements of politicians, soldiers and civilians, the verbatim drama starts with the march to war and finishes now, with the continued occupation of Iraq.

On the stage, five actors sit on Perspex boxes filled with the detritus of war - bullets, rubble, newspapers, videos, film reel - and speak the words of some very familiar faces: Tony Blair, George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice.

While the US production used video footage, Eidinow has chosen to steer clear of it, except for the images of photojournalist Karen Ballard which punctuate each chapter.

"There is no point in shocking the audience with visual images," says the award-winning director. "I think it can distance people. The point of the play is what you hear. You hear these statements in a time line and you hear the contradictions - like the famous Donald Rumsfeld quote - so it's very powerful."

The quote follows the former US secretary of defence's pre-war statement, read out at the beginning of the play, that there is "no question" American troops will be "welcomed" in Iraq. Later, after the bloodshed has began, we hear a tongue-tied Rumsfeld reminded of his words by a reporter.

"Never said that," replies Rumsfeld. "Never did. You may remember it well, but you're thinking of somebody else. You can't find, anywhere, me saying anything like either of those two things you just said I said."

At the end of each performance an updated death toll for the allied troops and new newspaper headlines are read aloud.

Eidinow says these are often the headlines we don't hear, like the 56 decapitated bodies found on the outskirts of Baghdad in July 2004. The reason we don't hear them? Well Eidinow thinks that's probably a media decision: "It would put people off reading their newspapers."

Although she admits she is political and that she is saddened by Britain's political apathy, she is not out to convert anyone.

"We're just sharing information. It's not for us as actors to persuade the audience, they can make their own discoveries. This story told before us is happening now. It's alive, it's a living fable and we are given a moment to really reflect and consider the world we live in. To think about the decisions that are made for us in this apparent democracy."

  • 5pm, £10/£8