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MISSISSIPPI-------Theatre Review
"This is a True Story"
In 1984, Howard Neal, an illiterate
28-year-old man with an IQ of only
54, was given the death sentence for
confessing to murdering his half-
brother and two of his nieces. He has
been on Mississippi's death row
ever since. Neal's case will shortly
reach the US Supreme Court and
final appeal. By next spring, he may
be dead.
If you want a cosy, entertaining night
out, don't go near This Is a True
Story. If you want to be outraged and
fired up by the injustices of the
US justice system, if you want to make
a tiny gesture and in the process
maybe help save a life, then book your
ticket without delay.
This Is a True Story uses only Neal's
own words, whose strange syntax and
simple, stuttering eloquence are artfully
edited and shaped by Tom Wright
and Nicholas Harrington. In a truly
virtuoso performance, Wright also
plays Neal, shuffling around in his
underpants in the gloom, telling the
story of man who has lived his whole
live in the dark.
The neglect and abuse of his childhood
and the terrible catastrophes that
followed are offered up, not as excuses
or explanations, but simply as
matters of fact related from Neal's
point of view. One of the most moving
things about Neal is his acceptance
of everything: he is like a trusting
dog. The question of his guilt or innocence
is not even touched upon - it
is an irrelevance. What is relevant
is that everyone should have access
to decent lawyers and a fair trial.
Neal is less bright than the average
8-year-old. Should 8-year-olds be sent
to the electric chair?
Theatre can, and is, frequently used
as a means rather than an ends.
Occasionally, in pieces such as The
Colour of Justice, about the Stephen
Lawrence Inquiry, it can be both. This
is one of those occasions too. It
isn't sophisticated and its theatricality
is pretty basic, but you leave
the theatre a slightly different person
from the one you were when you
went in.
(source: The (London) Guardian)
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