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23rd February 2026
By Lucy Alder – MA Drama Writing Student
With real-time updates from several conflict zones around the world, we are more aware of the horrors of war than ever. And perhaps that’s why Roy Williams’ 2007 drama, Days of Significance, looking at the Iraq War through the eyes of the British young people, is more evocative in 2026 than it was in 2007 – they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into, but we do.
In 2003, the US (backed by UK forces) invaded Iraq. The aim was to remove Saddam Hussein from power, but after the initial invasion, foreign military forces stayed to keep order. The Iraq War was the biggest deployment of British troops since World War II, with the numbers peaking at 46,000 during the invasion. The UK lost 179 servicemen and women between 2003 and 2009. The estimate of civilian Iraqi deaths during this time ranges between 106,348 and 654,965.
Roy Williams is one of the UK’s leading dramatists; his work stretches across theatre, screen, and radio. He wrote Days of Significance for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2007, using the structure of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing for Act 1. However, this play comes from Williams’ response to global politics of the mid-noughties: wars, weapons of mass destruction, and lying politicians. He wanted to engage with politics through the perspective of regular people – in particular young people who had been made to feel they didn’t matter.
Days of Significance is a popular choice for drama schools as it offers students an excellent opportunity to explore politically relevant themes with young people at the centre. And there is no shying away from challenging action. With no interval, the play barrels through three vastly different acts, pushing the characters at the heart of the story into increasingly testing scenarios.
Director Nat Simone is approaching Days of Significance with care and empathy, questioning whether we do enough as a society to nurture young people. During rehearsals, the cast was visited by a retired soldier who had been deployed to Iraq, and who had seen firsthand many young men join up thinking they were invincible, only to return (if they were lucky enough to return) a shell of themselves. Nat and the cast have used that powerful experience to inform how they bring the play to life.
Days of Significance will be a ride, but the text’s empathetic nature makes it possible to discuss the complexities of war and violence in a tangible, real way. If there’s one thing Roy Williams wanted to achieve with his play, it is that young people shouldn’t give up hope. There is a place in the world for you, and you can make something of yourself.
