In 1984, Howard Neal, an illiterate 28-year-old man with an IQ of only 54, was given the death sentence for confessing to murdering his half-brother and two of his nieces. He has been on Mississippi's Death Row ever since. Neal's case will shortly reach the US Supreme Court and final appeal. By next spring, he may be dead.
If you want a cosy, entertaining night out, don't go near This Is a True Story. If you want to be outraged and fired up by the injustices of the US justice system, if you want to make a tiny gesture and in the process maybe help save a life, then book your ticket without delay.
This Is a True Story uses only Neal's own words, whose strange syntax and simple, stuttering eloquence are artfully edited and shaped by Tom Wright and Nicholas Harrington. In a truly virtuoso performance, Wright also plays Neal, shuffling around in his underpants in the gloom, telling the story of man who has lived his whole live in the dark.
The neglect and abuse of his childhood and the terrible catastrophes that followed are offered up, not as excuses or explanations, but simply as matters of fact related from Neal's point of view. One of the most moving things about Neal is his acceptance of everything: he is like a trusting dog. The question of his guilt or innocence is not even touched upon - it is an irrelevance. What is relevant is that everyone should have access to decent lawyers and a fair trial. Neal is less bright than the average eight-year-old. Should eight-year-olds be sent to the electric chair?
Theatre can, and is, frequently used as a means rather than an ends. Occasionally, in pieces such as The Colour of Justice, about the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, it can be both. This is one of those occasions too. It isn't sophisticated and its theatricality is pretty basic, but you leave the theatre a slightly different person from the one you were when you went in.
· Until November 10. Box office: 020-7351 2876.
