ROUGH JUSTICE Touring

Terence Frisby had a very bad experience with the Law during a lengthy divorce case and the script contains some bitter outbursts against the British justice system. A man (Tom Conti) confesses to killing his 9-month old severely brain-damaged baby and stands trial. He conducts his own defence. He clams he killed on impulse. The prosecuting counsel (a Roman Catholic and a mother) argues that the killing was pre-meditated. So was it murder or manslaughter? Frisby then muddies the issue unnecessarily by introducing a melodramatic twist which should have been saved for the last line of the play. In the curtain call Conti asks the audience how they would have voted had they been on the jury and I am glad to report the majority of them got it right. Rough Justice was not a success when it premiered in London in 1994 and this touring production, well acted by Conti, but awkwardly staged, confirms that the proper place for Frisby’s play is radio and television.