Deep Cut **** TNT

Thursday 19 March 2009

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Deep Cut

This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Thursday 19 March 2009 14:12 GMT.

Over the last 15 years, this intimate theatre has built an excellent reputation for its “Tribunal Plays,” thought-provoking dramatisations from Nuremburg to Guantanamo of some of the most controversial inquiries of recent decades.

Philip Ralph’s exposure of the apparent cover-ups and incompetency of the investigations into the cause of death of four trainees at the Deepcut army barracks in Surrey, between 1995 and 2002, is, like its precursors, based on verbatim accounts and original source material. But, tellingly, on this occasion there is no sense of a courtroom format – hardly surprising as there has never been a full judicial inquiry. Yet on the evidence presented, the verdict of suicide in all four cases seems, to say the least, grossly inept.

Focussing mainly on the family of Cheryl James (a lively 18 year old who, it was ruled, shot herself whilst on guard duty) Ralph shows her parents fighting to understand exactly what happened to their adopted daughter and being thwarted at every turn by the army, the police, the justice system and the government. Evidence also comes from one of Cheryl’s contemporaries who (whilst acknowledging the challenges of the training environment) saw no sign of a mindset that might have led to her taking her own life.

But the most damning testimony comes from forensic scientist Frank Swann whose refusal to testify without an independent public inquiry seems, with hindsight, to have been a serious error of judgement. From his analysis of the pattern of splattered blood to the impossible angle of a fatal shot, his findings alone should be enough to reopen every one of these cases and start the process of finding the answers to the questions which still remain painfully – and shamefully - unanswered.

Tricycle, Kilburn High Road, NW6 (020 7328 1000) to 4th April (£10.00-£20.00)