Rough Justice

Courtroom dramas on stage, and without the aid of flashback film techniques, can be deadly dull – but not this one. The premise of the play tugged at every heart, the husband and wife destroyed by a crime that we all too well could understand. Author Terence Frisby extracts every ounce of emotion from their terrible dilemma and lie and the tension never drops from start to finish. A great cast go a long way to making the whole work too, well paced and believable in their roles. But it is Tom Conti who shines as the husband prepared to serve life for a crime he has not committed. Conti is so natural, so easy in the role that at times there is a sense of fly on the wall documentary. His understated style works brilliantly and makes the killing of the brain damaged child all the more heartbreaking. A superb study of grief, of morals and of the theatrics and games played by the legal system.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 8 October 2012

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