WHEN Liverpool soldier Alan Jones was killed in Iraq this week, the news was noted by theatre director Hannah Eidinow. It added another depressing note to the drama, What I Heard About Iraq, which she is touring round the country. The play – which uses the words of real people caught up in the Iraq conflict – is being constantly updated and the death of Kingsman Alan Jones, the 11th to die this month, was a significant addition. It brought the death toll among British soldiers in Iraq to 145. Poignantly, the drama, based on an article by American commentator and journalist Eliot Weinberger, arrives in Liverpool tonight for a short two-night stay at the Unity Theatre. The play, in its first production in America, was an immediate success. It used nothing but real statements of politicians, soldiers and civilians to document the war and its contradictions. But, for this British tour, freelance director Hannah Eidinow was brought on board to give it a more British slant. "We needed things that a UK audience would be interested in among all the other stuff," she explains. "Things like our response to the invasion and its aftermath." So she re-adapted it a bit – the original adaptation was by Simon Levy – with quotations and statements more pertinent to a British audience. Just as importantly, she is updating it every day. "We have to keep on top of things." A cast of five speak the words in this latest version of verbatim theatre – theatre in which only real words from real people are used. It was a technique used most admirably in the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse’s production, Unprotected, dealing with the murders of two Liverpool prostitutes. "As I see it, it is like an art installation," says Ms Eidinow. "You walk in and listen to all these stories and hear the facts." Although statements from politicians are used, there is no attempt at caricature or impersonation in the Rory Bremner style, she says. "It’s like you and me talking in the street about things they have heard, although the essence of the politicians is used: Tony Blair, for example, has a punctuated way of talking and uses certain hand gestures." She claims there is no particular slant. "We don’t want to lead the audience in any way but just say the words as they are and leave the audiences to make up their minds. They can hear all the contradictions put together." She likens it to a living fable in the ancient way of epic story telling like Homer’s Iliad. "It is the same style except that this one is alive and happening now and it is horrendous. In some ways, it is also a forensic examination of the invasion and its aftermath." The five actors turn in a proper performance – "nothing is read". Photographs by four photo-journalists working inside Iraq are also being seen for the first time. "They gave us permission to use them in the show, pictures of life inside Baghdad with soldiers, politicians and civilians. "There are pictures of bombs going off and people running away but we have tried to steer clear of real horror and death. We don’t want to horrify the audience. It is a moment for them to reflect on something that is happening on the other side of the world that feels so removed from us." But is it really a balanced view? "Well, we have just put together the facts," she says. "But you can see the contradictions. One minute Tony Blair is announcing that British troops will be pulling out eventually, but the next George Bush is announcing more American troops going in, twice the number of the British leaving. "This thing is you can't dispute the facts. It is up to audiences to decide." Has working on the play changed her own views? "I have always felt invasions were a bad thing anyway, but I have just become more horrified by the state of the world. Human beings should take more responsibility for everything, including climate change. It’s all connected." WHAT I Heard About Iraq is at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool, 8pm tonight and tomorrow. | 
