BLOODY SUNDAY - SCENES FROM THE SAVILLE INQUIRY. To 8 October.

London

BLOODY SUNDAY SCENES FROM THE SAVILLE INQUIRY
edited by Richard Norton-Taylor

Tricycle Theatre To 7 May 2005
revived 20 September-8 October 2005
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Sat 4pm & 20, 27 April 2pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval

TICKETS: 020 7328 1000
www.tricycle.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 13 April

Matters of fact that are anything but matter of fact.Early on there are easy laughs. Long before the end the tension's apparent in the audience's silent concentration. This is as gripping as a fictional thriller. It even brings a thriller-like final scene surprise. By then the suspects have been grilled, roasted and turned on the spit.

Should there be guilt that this entertainment comes from an inquiry into events that, in 1972, left 13 apparently unarmed civilians killed by trained paratroopers? For nationalist politician Bernadette McAliskey (expertly played by Sorcha Cusack), full of mocking haughteur, Saville overall has been a waste of time. This is about guilt, to be established in a court, not discussed in an inquiry. Yet Devlin speaks with quiet eloquence about the mix of numbness and pain she felt at the time. And has a swipe at journalists.

Ironically, as she's speaking here in a script by journalist Richard Norton-Taylor. Yes, it's verbatim from the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday. But a two-hour script carved from months of testimonies will be shaped, consciously or not, to the carver's ends. Actors' ability to capture people's mannerisms and voice-patterns, the designer's re-creation of amassed desks and PC screens (and showing the Derry and London sections of the inquiry apparently taking place in identical rooms), could merely be giving lies the sheen of truth.

Did the public-school upper-crust officer-class actually squirm, leak irritation, get stunned into pauses as these performances show? Did army counsel Peter Clarke, like William Hoyland's re-creation, begin questioning a volunteer ambulance-worker smiling and leaning confidentially forward before pulling back to intimidating sternness?

Indications are this company gets it right. Lord Saville's report is still awaited. But Bloody Sunday argues the British army sent its premier pit-bull troops in to teach the Irish a lesson. Political expediency led to a show of force and subsequent epidemics of amnesia for top-brass and paras alike.

One question arises. When counsels refer to documents they're shown on screens. Quotes, if selective, are verbatim. Yet whenever the speakers refer to hooligans the documents say ring leaders or rioters. Why? That apart, Nicolas Kent and Charlotte Westenra offer an immaculate, tactful production.

The Rt Hon Lord Saville: Alan Parnaby
Christopher Clarke QC: Nick Sampson
Michael Mansfield QC: Jeremy Clyde
Edwin Glasgow QC: Thomas Wheatley
Cathryn McGahey: Hilary Maclean
Alan Roxburgh: Theo Fraser Steele
Peter Clarke/Colonel Derek Wilford: William Hoyland
Eilish McDermott: Rita Hamill
Barry MacDonald: Gerard O' Hare
Bishop Daly: Michael O' Hagan
Michael Bridge/Soldier F: Charles Lawson
Bernadette McAliskey: Sorcha Cusack
William Patrick McDonagh/Soldier S: David Beames
Alice Doherty: Carole Nimmons
Geraldine McBride: Julia Dearden
General Sir Robert Ford/Reg Tester: Michael Cochrane
Major General Andrew MacLellan: John Castle
With Andrew MacBean, Ian Spink, Melissa Vitalis, Amanda Wright

Directors: Nicolas Kent, Charlotte Westenra
Designer: Claire Spooner
Lighting: Jon Driscoll
Sound: Mike Thacker
Dialect coach: Majella Hurley
Video: Richard Overall

2005-04-14 10:49:00