Told mainly in flashback, Stella Feehily’s well-researched new play for Out of Joint begins with a blood-chillingly powerful scene.
Their compound in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been breached by gun-toting soldiers and seasoned human rights defender Sadhbh is desperately trying to calm her French assistant, Mathilde, as she screams, petrified, that she would rather be killed than raped.
It’s a far cry from the life in London that Sadhbh (originally from Dublin, pushing 30 and dedicated – probably too dedicated – to her work) shares with her long-term partner Stephen (a former NGO turned consultant for Shell) and even from the “R & R” weekends in Goma overloaded with too much booze and casual sex where Julie Dray’s idealistic, inexperienced Mathilde picks up a young photographer keen to get his first scoop.
Orla Fitzgerald is totally convincing as Sadhbh, sacrificing (or perhaps running away from) her personal life to return again and again to collect testimony against the warlord whom she faces up to over tea and implied threats. And although the focus is primarily on the fate of the white women, the Congolese victims of rape and abuse are also given a credible voice in Max Stafford Clarke’s well-acted production.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS Tube: Sloane Square royalcourttheatre.com Until November 5 (£20, Mondays £10)
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