I've complained often enough about skimpy, 90-minute plays. No such charge could be levelled against James Phillips's three-hour piece, clearly inspired by Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953 for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. But, while it's a commendably assured first play, it still leaves me puzzled as to his ultimate purpose.
The names of the protagonists have been changed to allow Phillips dramatic licence. He begins in 1975 with a male law student and female history teacher meeting in front of a celebrated portrait of the condemned Rubensteins kissing in the back of a police van. The young couple's connection with the iconic figures is both a source of dramatic tension and a means of investigating the traumatic past. And, covering the years 1942 to 1953, Phillips shows how the semi-fictional Jakob and Esther Rubenstein moved from being wartime idealists to spies convicted largely on the evidence of Esther's brother.
I can easily forgive the play's technical faults: in particular, its heavily italicised parallels with The Crucible. But, in lightly fictionalising the story, Phillips omits many of the fascinating facts: in particular, the way the real Rosenberg case split America's Jewish community. I also feel Phillips hasn't made up his mind where he stands on the big issue. Are we to see the protagonists as genuine - if excessively punished - spies, or as victims of McCarthyite hysteria?
Even if the play offers any number of self-cancelling viewpoints, it vividly captures the interlocking nature of sexual and ideological passion. Political idealists are traditionally seen as physical puritans. As played brilliantly by Will Keen, Jakob is both an air-puncturing dogmatist and a uxorious sensualist. And, while Samantha Bond subtly implies that Esther is the stronger partner, she also gives full rein to the character's passion for Puccini and popular song.
Phillips's production also constantly reminds us that this is a personal, as well as political, drama. Alan Cox as the brother offers a deeply moving portrait of a man haunted by an act of familial treachery. And, even if the romance between the younger generation has a contrived air, Martin Hutson as the crusading lawyer and Louisa Clein as the truth-seeking teacher are both first-rate. In the end, the play never forges a connection between the Rosenberg case and modern America; but what is refreshing is to find a young dramatist unafraid of explicit emotion.
· Until December 17. Box office: 020-7722 9301.
