Deep Cut Review
Submitted by Portia Nicholson on 29th September 2008
WORDS: Portia Nicholson (Youth Editorial Group)
Sherman Cymru production and Fringe favourite Deep Cut came back to the Sherman Theatre with a blaze of publicity. The play is an insightful, emotional account of the unexplained deaths of four young soldiers who died at the now infamous Deepcut army barracks between 1995 and 2002. The play has won mass critical acclaim as well as several awards including Fringe First, a Herald Angel award for production excellence and the Amnesty International Freedom Of Expression Award.
The play is centered on the struggle for justice, accountability and a challenge to the official version of events by grieving parents Des and Doreen James whose adoptive daughter Cheryl was one of the soldiers who died in mysterious circumstances at the Deepcut barracks.
Writer Philip Ralph spent a grueling two years researching original source material including government statements, newspaper articles and the Blake review, holding face to face interviews with the families and taking detailed accounts from of those closest to Private Cheryl James. The result is a powerful account of those unexplained deaths and how the army, the government and the media all failed the young soldiers, the army in their duty of care to them, the government for failing to hold a public enquiry and journalism for 'dropping the ball' and failing to report the matter honestly and accurately.
In an intimate set portraying the James's modest family home, Ciaran McIntyre commands the stage in a raw, award-winning performance of Des James, Cheryl's devastated father who struggles to comprehend why his happy daughter would want to kill herself and if it actually happened. Rhian Blythe gives a realistic and convincing performance of Cheryl’s army friend Jonesy, whose powerful testimony of Cheryl's fun loving and cheerful personality raises considerable doubt that Cheryl would want to commit suicide.
Interwoven with the James' story of heartache are the often conflicting facts surrounding the deaths of Cheryl James, Sean Benton, Geoff Gray and James Collinson. Robert Blythe plays Frank Swann the forensic investigator who establishes a strong case against the official line taken by the army and the government, explaining that the four deaths were likely to be murders on the basis of forensic evidence, evidence which was destroyed by the army suggesting sheer incompetence and even more worryingly a cover-up. Contrasting against the grief of the families and the persuasive doubts of Ballistics expert Frank Swann is Simon Molloy’s cold character QC Nicholas Blake, who categorically rejects the notion of murder in the Independent enquiry he conducted.
Blake's enquiry, to the dismay of the families concluded that the soldiers 'probably killed themselves' and rejected calls for a public inquiry. The play demonstrates that whilst the Army and the government are happy to close the issue the families continue to fight for a full public inquiry to gain answers from the people responsible for the deaths. The moving play has brought the issue back into the public consciousness and the families’ hope that by bringing the issue back into the public eye their call for the truth will finally be answered and maybe they could long have their deserved closure on the unexplained tragedy.
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