The novelist Esther Freud (Hideous Kinky) has chosen an unusual theme for her first play: the true story of Lady Anne Tree’s determination to give prisoners a practical purpose and increased self-esteem by introducing them to needlecraft. A stitch in time may save lives but while the cause is admirable, the subject itself is not inherently dramatic.
Freud attempts to get round this in several ways. She dwells on the difficulties Lady Anne faces in 1997, especially with a recalcitrant Home Office that needs a lot of persuading that it might do prisoners good for their handiwork to be seen and to earn them some money. We see how the inmates turn from sceptical stitchers into dedicated craftsmen who unite to work on a giant quilt of prison life. At the same time, Freud paints a graphic picture of the tedium of prolonged incarceration: in one poignant scene the men measure out the passing years by describing World Cups that have come and gone.
Freud’s heart is in the right place but a faint air of worthiness surrounds her play. It does, however, contain an outstanding performance from Sinéad Cusack, who captures perfectly the no-nonsense Lady Anne’s mix of embattled hostility to bureaucracy and infinite patience with the prisoners. There is good support from Michael Nardone as a fitness-conscious Pole, Frankie Wilson as his nervy cellmate and Trevor Laird as a militant lifer. Gaby Dellal’s production, filled with the sound of abrasive objects scraped against metal bars, reminds us just how noisy prisons are. It’s a play that raises awareness without ever making you feel that, like Galsworthy’s portrait of solitary confinement in Justice, it might actually lead to penal reform.
- At Jermyn Street theatre, London, until 23 June. Box office: 020-7287 2875.
