The play deals with "British metropolitan attitudes" to the Vietnam War, rather than the facts of the war itself. The first half of the performance consists of "comic-strip…anti-Americanism", but after the interval the work considers aspects of the conflict as if taking place in London: "I want it to come here…" announces one character. This is achieved by having a player contemplate burning himself to death, in the manner of Buddhist monks in Saigon, on the streets of London. At the end of the play a box of live butterflies is released from a box with the last (actually made of paper)[3] being picked up by the wings and symbolically burnt with a cigarette lighter.[4][5]
It premiered on 13 October 1966, directed by Brook, at the Aldwych Theatre, London.[2]
Benefit of the Doubt, a documentary about the making of the play, was released in 1967. Tell Me Lies, a British film based on US and directed and produced by Brook, was released in 1968.