“I’m going to show you how to make a bomb,” declares David Benson, silencing his audience in the first instant of this extraordinary presentation. In the dramatised lecture which follows, he plays Jim Swire, the real-life doctor set on an all-consuming search for truth by the death of his daughter aboard Pan Am 103. With icy, eloquent dignity, Benson analyses the still-controversial case through verbatim court transcripts, projected news footage, facts and figures. Balancing this information-overload are moments of grief and frailty; Swire’s waking nightmares and recollections of fatherhood rise through the text in a deeply moving undercurrent. His campaign for justice, and outrage at governments’ complicity in burying the truth, makes for a powerful, profoundly relevant performance.
St John’s Church, 8 Aug, 4.00 pm (5.10 pm), £10.00 – £12.00, fpp276.
tw rating 4/5
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Sections: by Dave Fargnoli - ED2011 Theatre Reviews - tw rating 4/5 | Tags: David Benson, Festival Highlights, St John's Church
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