Little Hugh of Lincoln was a 13th-century cause célèbre. The young boy's disappearance inflamed the anti-Semitism of the Christian community, who believed he had been taken as a blood sacrifice by the Jews whose funds they were borrowing to build their cathedral. It was the chance discovery of a plaque to the little martyr in Lincoln that prompted Steven Berkoff to write this new play.
Of course, Hugh may just have fallen down a well - but Berkoff's real purpose is to trace how his death was but a pretext for unleashing the ugliest possible combination of superstition, bigotry and revenge. These themes never change. Although a projected subtitle announces that the year is 1255, the costumes are modern and the situation as catastrophic as the current-day Middle East.
If this sounds grandiose, ask yourself when someone last wrote a play with a vast list of characters ranging from a peasant woman to a king. Berkoff's scope is vast, his ambition unbridled, and he turns dry chronicle into well-lubricated drama in a way that directly courts comparison with Shakespeare. Paradoxically, he achieves this while abandoning his familiarly mannered verse style - the language is brutally simple, the execution simply brutal.
Yet it may be the masterstroke of Nottingham Playhouse to secure the premiere without having Berkoff direct or appear in it. Timothy Walker's dark, stark production succumbs to the odd moment of ritualised roaring but on the whole it avoids the bog of Berkovian rhetorical gesture. What could so easily become another masterclass in the art of being Berkoff emerges as a multi-dimensional drama of great intellect and style. Admittedly, the Christians don't emerge covered in glory; but at least Berkoff makes the empathetic stretch of suggesting that, in their constant capitulation to absurd ransom demands, the Jews brought further victimisation upon themselves.
Walker masterfully marshals a massive cast assigned to multiple roles. David Fleeshman is particularly fine as a fiery rabbi, as is Alan Perrin as an ambitious cleric who views the prospect of a home-grown martyr as a major career move. But the real hero of the evening is Berkoff - a writer quick to spleen but majestic in anger. This play reminds us he is never more beautiful than when he's angry.
Until June 16. Box office: 0115-941 9419.
