Did you know – I’m ashamed to say I didn’t – that 928 nuclear bomb tests were conducted in the USA between 1951 and 1992 at the test site in Nevada?  928.  Each one of which was more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Each one of which had ‘fallout’ which for those people and communities ‘downwind’ of those tests has proved lethal.  In numbers of cases, fatal even.

One of the amazing women I met last week at the United Nations – (‘Hey, I thought you were in New York at 59E59 Theaters, not the UN!’ I hear you cry?  I’ll explain shortly, don’t worry) – anyway, one of the women I met there is of that group who identify themselves as ‘downwinders’ – and she has been fighting for justice and compensation from the US government for years.  She’s also written a play about her experiences.  More of that shortly, too.

I mentioned previously how there  have been so many links, loops and circularity on this tour of The Mistake in the US.  

Well, in a rather extraordinary coincidence, which I did know about before leaving London, the latest round of talks on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)  are taking place at the United Nations, New York, at exactly the same time we are performing a play in the city about the dangers of nuclear weapons.