Pulse

The play was part of Ipswich's Pulse Fringe Festival and it took place at a sold-out Sir John Mills Theatre.

It really is a remarkable and at times harrowing story, one that leaves you thinking 'we don't know we're born' but as it concludes with a very sexy, exotic belly dance it also means you leave the venue with a wistful smile on your face!

In 2004, the British Ambassador to the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan spoke out about the UK using information from his host country which was allegedly gained using torture. This did not go down well with the British Civil Service or his host government.

It also emerged that he was having an affair with a local dancer called Nadira. The play is her story. And it's Nadira Murray herself who performs it - making it all the more powerful.

The performance is a mixture of Craig Murray's recorded messages about what he experiences in Uzbekistan and Nadira taking us through her childhood, her family's descent into poverty and drug-running, her lifeline of dancing in Tashkent nightclubs which funded her English degree and teaching career and, ultimately, her affair with the ambassador who left his wife for her.

After his recall from the service, Murray brought Nadira to the UK. He wrote a book and she took acting lessons and they then brought in Alan Hescott and the three of them wrote this play.

The truth is out there

When approaching a play like this, you have to be aware that this is only one couple's version of the truth, but it's presented in a convincing way.

Nadira rails against the Uzbekistan autocratic government and society on many levels - its corruption, brutality, confiscation of property, downgrading of the arts (her father couldn't find an outlet for talents which were valued in the former USSR) and, most shockingly, the blind-eye turned to the culture of rape by the police.

Craig Murray

It's certainly an eye-opener to life in a state which borders Afghanistan, but Nadira's tale is performed without self-pity (after all - there is a happy ending for her) and it's shot through with humour. The woman next to me guffawed loudly at her description of life's pleasures as being like a "fat man's cock - small and doesn't come very often!"

We also learn a lot about the difference between dry and wet 'meat' (men in nightclubs who have money for extra services and those who don't) and that the groom's family have to pay the bride's family when a marriage takes place. It sounds a bit strange to hear Nadira recounting the conversation between her father and Craig - describing herself as 'very beautiful' and 'educated' and therefore worth a bigger dowry.

As well as paunches, the play pulls no punches. It's quite upfront in describing Craig Murray as 'not a saint'. Nadira also takes umbrage at the Daily Mail's description of her as immoral.

This is a man who left his wife, has a predilection for spanking and met his mistress in an Uzbekistan nightclub where sexual services are on offer. Some might argue that patronising venues where women are used for sexual services makes morally suspect. Is it that far removed from the alleged attitudes of the police who feel free to rape with impunity?

However, Nadira doesn't seem to look back on her time working as an exotic dancer with regret or humiliation. But then, somehow she manages to avoid having to have intercourse with clients and you wonder how she pulled that one off (no pun intended).

The humiliation comes in the form of her father's poverty and in her treatment by the police on other occasions outside of her workplace.

Once her story is told, we're treated to an encore of belly dancing which is pretty much worth the £5 entrance fee alone.

It's a remarkable solo performance full of honesty and humour and one that lives up to its billing.

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The British Ambassador's Belly Dancer was performed at the Sir John Mills Theatre, Ipswich on Friday 13 June 2008