Political theatre takes many forms. It can, as Eric Bentley says, be "a ritual to confirm people in their convictions". Which is how this imported Dubbeljoint production about the 1981 Maze hunger strikes works. It doesn't seek to persuade; it offers a heartfelt tribute to the 10 prisoners who died over 217 days.
But the play, written by Brian Campbell and Laurence McKeown, is more than straightforward polemic. It's both an act of historical retrieval and a reminder of the way the hunger strikes radicalised a generation. It recalls how in 1976 the British government classified political prisoners as criminals, followed in 1980 by the hunger strike by republican prisoners that eventually led to the death of Bobby Sands. It's a phrase from a Sands poem - "our revenge will be the laughter of our children" - that gives the play its title.
The play focuses less on the strikers themselves than on their impact on a rural community. As one young man follow Sands's lead, we see his grieving parents gradually accepting his commitment. A local teacher does battle with a priest who prefers backstairs negotiation; to his fury, she petitions the inhabitants of the Cromwell Park estate to change its name to Francis Hughes in memory of a hunger striker.
It would be idle to pretend the play is subtle: it assumes from the outset a sympathy with the republican cause. But what it does do, very effectively, is recreate the emotional impact of the H-block strikes and show how the government's "criminalisation" policy backfired by creating a group of martyrs. Pam Brighton's production, played against a backdrop depicting the faces of the strikers and punctuated by plangent songs from Terry O'Neill, has a no-frills directness and boasts some good performances
It's the kind of raw, political theatre we don't often see today. I doubt it will change hearts and minds but it reminds us of theatre's power to articulate communal feeling.
Until June 24. Box office: 020-8985 2424.
