The Prisoner by Peter Brook and Marie-Héléne Estienne continues its Edinburgh Festival run in the intimate surroundings of the Royal Lyceum Theatre. It is part of the residency of the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord at the 2018 International Festival.

As much folk tale or mythology as scripted drama, the piece is deceptively low key, but I came away pondering the essential conflicts at the heart of JUSTICE.

We open with the outsider who arrives with his own questions to seek enlightenment. He encounters a ‘wise man’, Ezekiel, who sends him to ask the man on the hill opposite the prison what he is doing there. The Prisoner, Mabusa* was guilty of an ‘unspeakable crime’ and is first punished by Ezekiel and then the laws of the land. At first thinking, his crime is understandable, but as the play progresses, less so. There is a woman, Nadia, is she an unwitting catalyst or  a knowing one? There is  a local who has a big axe and has cheerfully swapped the felling of trees for employment as the prison’s executioner. And a host of extraneous characters played by the cast.

A bleakly spare set and great lighting lead us through years of punishment time, changing political fortunes and shifting domestic power bases.

Run continues Tickets here

So, how are your audience observations getting along? Last night the audience was a little unsettled. I’ve always noticed that audiences dislike silence. Silences lead to the shuffling, the sneaky glance at the mobile, the irresistible temptation that is the unfinished conversation. But, here’s the thing, we’re grown-ups. If the playwrights have scripted silence, please let those of us who’ve come to see their work absorb it. You could try it, too. Wonderfully de-stressing.

Anne

• Apologies if some names are wrong. The actors are named as a group and not by character in the programme. Not helpful.