Cast:

An O.R.P. Production directed by Dave Hill.

Crew:

The Play:

Ralph is a loner with a bit of previous. Nancy is the mother od a missin girl and Agnetha is the American academic trying to find answers and off some light where only darkness seems to reign.

This award winning play was premiered at Birmingham Rep in 1998 with ex ORP actress Josie Lawrence in the role of Agnetha.

This is a hard-hitting play that speaks for itself and is presented with minimal staging and as few props as we could get away with! - DH

Press - Powerful drama

Raw emotions pour onto the barren stage in Dave Hill's fine studio production of Bryony Lavery's exploration of the aftermath of the gaoling of a serial killer and peadophile.

Only three players are involved: the killer, the bereaved mother and the self-styled psychiatric explorer. Int he early stages, they do not come into contact with each other. The story proceeds in a series of monologues of varying intensity, with Chris Thomas bringing explosive anger but no remorse to the role of barely-contained violenece, punctuated by flashbacks showing how he claimed his seven child victims, and later reliving his own abuse at the hands of his father. Joanne Mason makes us ready to forget that she does not look old enough to be the mother who has spent long years living with her grief. This is a warm, often perky account of a brave battle with her heart-wrenching loss.

Her eventual meeting in prison with the man who wrecked her life is rivetingly accomplished by both players.

Shelley Campbell, meanwhile, comes triumphantly through a script that is full of detailed explanations of the activities of the brain and its components, while giving way at other times to non-clinical outporings of her own private trauma.

This is an excellent production, tough not for anyone offended by foul language

John Slim

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