ONCE one half of the comedy duo Parsons And Naylor and lead writer for the satirical puppet show Spitting Image, Henry Naylor now writes heavyweight plays.

First presented at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe and the Arcola Theatre in Hackney, Naylor's The Collector is being revived for a two-month tour of 29 locations that opens with a four-day run at York Theatre Royal, whose Studio matches the Arcola studio in character.

Naylor has since written two more plays for Edinburgh premieres, Echoes in 2015 and Angel this summer, that together with the Scotsman Fringe First Award-winning The Collector form his Arabian Nightmare Trilogy.

Part one, The Collector, is set in 2003 in Mazrat Prison, Iraq: once one of Saddam Hussein's most notorious torture houses, where more than 10,000 people died, and now under Allied command. Nassir works there as a translator for the American interrogators; he is local, pro-Western, determined to bring liberal values to his country and is soon to marry Zoya, his sweetheart, but when he is recognised by Faisal, a new prisoner and psychotic supporter of the old regime, his life becomes a living hell.

Born out of Naylor’s own experiences of a visit to Bagram Airbase in 2003, The Collector is a tale of murder, evil and betrayal set in occupied Iraq, performed by William Reay, from the original production, who was last seen at York Theatre Royal in May in Terence Rattigan's Flare Path. He will be joined by new cast members Anna Riding and Olivia Beardsley in her British stage debut, directed by London Classic Theatre artistic director Michael Cabot.

Cabot's company had toured productions to the Oldham Coliseum in Theatre Royal chief executive Liz Wilson's days on the other side of the Pennines, and this year he took the opportunity to look round the Theatre Royal Studio with the York theatre's associate director, Juliet Forster, leading to the tour opening here.

"I got chatting with Henry about the play at the Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Fringe, where he asked me how would I have directed it," says Michael, recalling how the revival was set in motion. "I talked to him about doing it with London Classic Theatre as there was a wish for the piece to reach a wider audience, especially as Echoes did well at Edinburgh last summer and Angel had sold-out shows for four weeks.

"There's been a bit of momentum building behind Henry's work so it's a good time to be doing this tour. It gives people the chance to express their curiosity in what's taken place in Iraq, which is such a prominent point of discussion now. People are not always looking to be entertained by theatre, but Henry's play has pathos and humour as well as being challenging."

Kathryn Barker Productions and London Classic Theatre present Henry Naylor's The Collector, York Theatre Royal Studio, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.45pm and 2.30pm Thursday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatrereoyal.co.uk