Knotty is the word for Bruce Graham's play, inspired by the executed American James Beathard. Beathard, during his many years on death row, wrote obituaries of his fellow inmates that made no mention of the crimes committed and therefore ensured that they were remembered by something other than their worst acts. Here Beathard becomes John Brennan, an intelligent, pent-up man who incurs the wrath of the authorities for his self-published newspaper, the Death Row Advocate.
Brennan is determined to stay alive, so he is appalled when he gets a new cell partner, Bobby, an illiterate white supremacist who admits he incinerated 37 black people in a fire. He thinks God told him to do it and so looks forward to meeting his maker. Brennan's view is that, like English POWs in Nazi camps, death row prisoners have a duty to try to escape their fate through the appeals system: "Every time they kill one of us it just makes it easier and easier."
Graham's play is schematic and initially appears more journalistic than dramatic, particularly in its use of the tough prison guard who, like her charges, has made certain choices. There is also a liberal New York Times reporter who argues: "You people frighten us and we're not the bad guys because we try and protect ourselves."
Set against a series of unseen executions, this is a slippery little piece that - as it unravels issues of crime and punishment, innocence and guilt, justice and injustice - ends up not only challenging its characters' certainties but those of the audience as well. In a lesser production, the play's faults would seem more glaring, but Sarah Esdaile's is blisteringly good - full of a very un-English coiled energy and making clever use of the studio space. Great performances all round from Jo Martin as the prison guard, Eric Loren as the journalist, Ben Cross as John Brennan and Alex Ferns as the childlike Bobby, a man who is appalling and appealing in equal measure.
· Until April 10. Box office: 0161-833 9833.
