''Castro's Beard'' is a play by British playwright Brian Stewart. The play centers on the true plots by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

to assassinate Fidel Castro in the 1960s.

Initial productions

The play ''Castro's Beard'' was first produced by the Deptford Players, Off-Broadway in 2001. ''

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'' described it as a "mordant, irreverent comedy that was timely and thought-provoking." It was subsequently produced by the Barrington Stage Company in Massachusetts in 2002 and then at the Stages Repertory Theatre, Houston in 2004. Following a rehearsed reading at the Arts centre in London in 2005 - with a cast that included

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and

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- the play was produced by the

Theatre Royal Haymarket The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foot ...

, in association with Richard Jordan Productions and the

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is a theatre located in Guildford, Surrey, England. Named after the actress Yvonne Arnaud, it presents a series of locally produced and national touring productions, including opera, ballet and pantomime. The theatre ...

, Guildford, and embarked on a number one tour of the UK in 2006 when the name was changed to ''Killing Castro''. The cast included:

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(Torphy),

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(Brawner),

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(Madison) and

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's son, Joe Shaw, as Drake.

Reception

The work received mixed reviews in the UK. It was described by the ''

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'' as an "acclaimed comedy" which "chronicles the more bizarre of America's attempts to kill the Cuban leader Fidel Castro - including filling his shoes with poison and inventing an exploding cigar". ''

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'' said, "The British dramatist Brian Stewart appears to have got lucky with this intermittently entertaining but rather trite little play about the CIA's plots to bump off Fidel Castro". Although, Michael Billington of ''

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'' was much more complimentary: "Stewart's weapon is comedy. But his argument, that America will stop at nothing in its defiance of international law, is no different from that of" Harold Pinter's Nobel speech.

Later productions

The play was published by Josef Weinberger in 2009. In 2013, the play was translated into Polish by Karolina Mackiewicz and performed in repertory by the Teatr Polski Szczecin as ''Operacja Castro''; the director was Bartłomiej Wysozomirski.

References

{{authority control British plays 2001 plays Comedy plays Off-Broadway plays West End plays