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Wednesday 3 May 2006

The Exonerated

This play takes the subject of death row detainees in the US, and tells the story of 6 of them, subsequently (and obviously, given the title) released. It's an interesting staging, with just the actors sitting in a line in front of the audience, reading from the script. This opens up two opportunities:

1) You hear the voices - really hear the voices - and notice the actors minor movements, their faces and gestures. Only once, to my recollection, does one of them stand up. But this lack of movement does nothing to detract from the sheer power of the words, and in fact acts like a television or film close up - emphasising the minutae for 90 minutes or more, and ultimately packing a very effective punch.

2) The actors don't need to remember their lines. So they can concentrate harder on making the characterisation believable - and they can come in at short notice. As a result, a wide variety of stellar actors have been involved. The night I went, we saw Martin Freeman, Kate Mulgrew and Mike McShane, amongst others, giving in my opinion the strongest performances of their careers.

It's not a story - it's a combination of actual statements made by those imprisoned, and the associated characters - wives, police officers, lawyers, judges. And it closely scrutinises the concept of state execution. It's breathtaking.

Posted by dustbinman at 13:11 | Permalink

Comments

That sounds utterly fascinating. What's the chance it will make it across the Pond? Not high. Sigh.

Posted by: Peg on May 5, 2006 05:15 PM