News

A new theatre show asks you to play the jury in a terror trial

Andrzej Lukowski
Written by
Andrzej Lukowski
Theatre Editor, UK
Advertising

Hijacked by a terrorist, a passenger jet is on a collision course with a packed football stadium. Ignoring orders, a fighter pilot shoots it down, killing all 164 people on board, but eliminating the threat to the 70,000 people in the stadium.

Is the pilot a hero who took decisive action? Or a murderer who didn’t exhaust every possibility to save the 164 before he killed them?

That’s the question at the heart of an ambitious new interactive show at the Lyric Hammersmith, which casts the audience as the jury, with the ending depending on whether they go for ‘innocent’ or ‘guilty’. 

‘Terror’, written by German lawyer-turned-playwright Ferdinand von Schirach, has been a hit across the globe in various productions, with actors playing the roles of the legal teams as they present their evidence for the audience to decide. Interestingly, reactions have varied considerably: in non-militarised Japan the pilot has been found guilty every time; in the US of A he’s been exonerated across the board. Which way will the Brits go? You can find out now by getting yourself down to the Lyric Hammersmith and taking part in theatre boss Sean Holmes’s production.

Terror’ is at the Lyric Hammersmith until July 15.

Popular on Time Out

    You may also like
    You may also like
    Advertising