A Map of the World

Burning Coal Theatre Company present David Hare’s A Map of the World. When Victor Mehta, an internationally acclaimed Indian novelist (modeled after V.S. Naipaul), is invited to speak at a UNESCO-style conference on world hunger in Bombay, all hell breaks loose. One group, comprised primarily of Third World diplomats, rejects Mehta and his conservative ideology, threatening to boycott the conference unless he is removed. Other groups, for equally political purposes, insist that he must speak in order to preserve the sacred principle of ‘freedom of speech.’

Into this chaos walks Stephen Andrews, a young British journalist, Elaine La Fanu a young African-American journalist, and Peggy Whitton, a rising American film star intent on increasing her good standing with Hollywood liberals by lending her name to the conference. While the diplomats wage a polite battle, the young, hotheaded Mr. Andrews goes right at the venerable Mehta. In an effort to settle the dispute between the two men, both of whom the naïve Peggy loves, she offers the only gift she believes she has to offer: herself — to the winner of a debate — a debate that will end tragically, and change all of them forever.