IN 1999 J smacks Tony Blair in the back with a well-aimed tangerine – she’s protesting about the horrors in Iraq caused by UN sanctions. ‘How do you really know what’s going on?’ challenges a journalist.

J journeys to Iraq to find out. Three years later she returns to Baghdad… with a circus. Jo Wilding, a young British trainee lawyer and activist, witnessed and recorded in her blog some of the worst atrocities committed against ordinary people in Iraq during the war and its aftermath. She also told the extraordinary tale of taking her hastily assembled circus around squatter’s camps, schools and orphanages. From her blog came a book, from the book comes the play Don’t Shoot The Clowns.

Paul Hodson’s new play recreates the shock, anger and fear felt by those who risked their lives to bring some respite to the children of Iraq – as well as the funny, playful and often very silly tale of this troupe of ramshackle clowns in a war-torn country.

Don’t Shoot The Clowns is feisty, funny, political theatre about friendship, suffering and how far an individual has to go to make a difference.

It runs for three nights at The Nuffield from Wednesday.

Call 023 8067 1771 or visit nuffieldtheatre.co.uk