Real life drama: Talking to Terrorists
Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Just opened at the Royal Court, Talking to Terrorists affords one of the most compelling theatrical experiences I've had in months, if not years. Every word of Robin Soans's script is taken from testimonies from people who have been involved in or affected by acts of terrorism. Boiled down from several hundred hours of interviews, we hear the voice of - among many others - Mo Mowlam, Terry Waite, a former member of the UVF, a Kurdish freedom fighter, the Brighton bomber and - in the most extraordinary passage - two of his victims, Norman and Margaret Tebbit.
"We wanted to find an answer to our central question: what makes a terrorist a terrorist?," said Soans earlier this year. "Verbatim theatre is not just living journalism. If it is to succeed, it has to have the shape and rhythm of art... And at its best it's also true of this extraordinary kaleidoscopic collage," wrote Michael Billington, reviewing the production on its Oxford debut.
While factual theatre can sound a bit too much like hard work, if not downright dull, there's nothing boring about this brilliantly staged and acted evening. It's at the Royal Court which, incidentally, has a rather good cheap ticket deal on Mondays until July 30.
