Clever As Clever presents Public Interest, a witty, dark drama about the Baha Mousa Inquiry currently at New Diorama Theatre
In a London hotel, a captain and a colonel meet to discuss how one can defend the other while he gives his testimony at the impending Baha Mousa Inquiry. They banter and argue, shout and cajole, and one of them tries to pull the sexy bar manager. But their conversation also draws heavily on the inquiry itself and raises many of the same questions that have come to light as a result of its probing.
But though writer Drew Ballantyne has created something sharp and witty that relies on what we've gleaned from the inquiry, he offers a very different perspective to the one that emerges from the QC's line of questioning. His characters, Captain Lucas and Colonel Warner, talk about Iraq as an exceptional situation where everyone was bending the rules and training might not have applied. They also present the Baha Mousa Inquiry as a smokescreen for the Chilcott Inquiry so that, for the media at least, the alleged sins of the army trump the questionable legality of war.
Whether you agree or disagree with the points made, they certainly give us something to think about, but what's more striking is the repartee with which these heavy points are delivered. The characters' intimate knowledge of each other provides camaraderie and comedy that comes thick and fast in the script. Their vices, their history, and their relationships with their wives are all weaved into arguments over whether training soldiers to torture prisoners of war is also about teaching them to withstand such torture.
But there is one fundamental flaw in the characterisation. Ellie, the bar manager who we know from the beginning, ends up in bed with Lucas, acts as a sounding board for their back and forth. She becomes the horrified, interrogative voice of the public as she argues with the soldiers and forms an essential part of Lucas' character arc. But too much of their fictional discussion is rooted in Ellie being a plausible character, and she's not. The conversation between Lucas and Warner, though completely believable and absorbing, is hampered by their inclusion of a character who would never be privy to all this information. While Ellie is likeable, every time they address her, the situation becomes unrealistic. Nonetheless, Public Interest is full of ideas presented with consistently funny banter and plenty of changes in tone. I hope it gets a longer run.
Public Interest runs at New Diorama Theatre until 25th June
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