Howard Barker’s political whodunnit follows the aftermath of a suspicious fire that engulfs Middenhurst Gaol. But expect cerebral pontification rather than easy escapism: this is Barker at his most challenging.
Explorations of sex, liberalism and Westminster corruption are detours in a civil servant’s search to find the arsonist. True to Barker’s ‘Theatre of Catastrophe’ ethos, a definite message is purposely elusive.
Doug Rollins’s revival lacks the intensity to enliven the script’s poetic dialogue, and can’t sustain an engaging pace. Slow spoken exchanges break erratically into loud wrangles before petering out. Rollins never taps the political bite of the original 1978 production.
Adam Lewis is excellent as the unhinged gaol governor yearning for the appreciation of his prisoners. Maggi-Anne Lowe, who plays his sex-starved wife, is equally impressive in navigating some shockingly explicit dialogue without breaking step.
But as the three-hour-long script reaches its final third the performances flag. When one of the characters mutters: ‘Oh God, the futility of this,’ you can’t help nodding along.