Debut at Coventry theatre is memorable and compelling drama

To pull together four plays by three very different writers and make of it a singular theatrical experience is ambitious, but Coventry’s newest theatre company, New Project Theatre, has achieved just this with its debut production.

Behind Bars condenses the work of local playwrights who have all explored the intrinsic elements of imprisonment and the effect on the individual.

There is the anger of the prisoner denied his voice in trial (Half Guilty, Alan Wales), the appeal to reason of the man who encounters the limits of his own endurance (Sanctuary, Quentin Knight) and the bewilderment of the vulnerable older prisoner released into a society developing too swiftly for him to comprehend (Grey Lag, Nic James). The result is compelling drama.

The Games situates two individuals (Hope Woods, Alan Wales) behind bars in some ‘other’ society. The drama attempts a skillful interplay of narrative with action/dialogue, which is both mysterious and unsettling.

Director Charles Ingram chose his actors well; they collectively encompass a range of emotion that was both authentic and memorable.

Rating: 7

Kate Wiltshire