A BRITISH SUBJECT Arts Theatre

The Brit is 18-year-old Mirza Tahir Hussain, who was visiting Pakistan when he killed a cab-driver in self-defence. He was tried, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to be hanged. He spent 18 years on death row. He was finally released as a result of the combined efforts of Don McKay, Allah, Saint Jude and HRH the Prince of Wales.
Journalist McKay wrote an article for the Daily Mirror, Hussain prayed to Allah, Nichola McAuliffe prayed to Jude (the patron saint of lost causes), and Prince Charles had a private word with the President of Pakistan whilst they were travelling in a lift together. The script is by McAuliffe, who appears in the play as herself and cracks a lot of unnecessary and jarring theatrical joke. The performances of David Rintoul (as McKay) and Shiv Grewel (as the prisoner’s brother and also the prison’s governor), give the production some much needed energy; Kulmindir Ghir (as Hussain), unfortunately, takes his scene so painfully slowly that he loses the audience’s attention completely. The story would work so much better in a television docudrama.