In a pair of intercut monologues about abuses committed on Iraqi prisoners, this award-winning play by Peter Morris finds surprising comedy and provides no easy answers. But, via Private Lynndie England and an imagined tabloid journalist, it struggles to say anything new about this most discussed of issues.
Hywel John's red-top hack is both a coruscating indictment of a certain type of self-serving professional and also a hideous cliche. Initially seeking a career in pornography, he claims to find the same satisfaction in downmarket journalism.
After visiting extreme fetish clubs ('less like sex, more like Guernica'), he fakes photographs of British soldiers abusing Iraqis to help cement both a promotion and a new relationship.
Lynndie England, by comparison, is imagined as a much more interesting proposition. Played with a strange radiance by MyAnna Buring (pictured with John), the demonised Abu Ghraib guard is constantly on the edge yet never apparently unhappy.
As she talks about leaving home in West Virginia and suffering an abusive relationship in the US Army, it becomes clear that Morris sees her as ignorant rather than bad. We shouldn't blame soldiers for misinterpreting the idiocy of politicians, he implies.
At times, both monologues are very funny and they're consistently acutely observed. But it's hard to find much here beyond the old idea that with power comes responsibility.
Until Oct 23, Theatre 503, 503 Battersea Park Road SW11, Tue to Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm, £9, £6 concs, Tue pay what you can. Tel: 020 7978 7040. www.theatre503.com. Rail: Clapham Junction
Guardians
