This Much Is True

In July 2005, just two weeks after 7/7, armed police killed an innocent Brazilian man at Stockwell tube station. They thought he was a suicide bomber; he was, in fact, an electrician on his way to work. This much is true: all other interpretations of the events surrounding the death of Jean Charles de Menezes are still mired in bitter accusations and fierce denials. This new play by Paul Unwin and Sarah Beck attempts to unpick the fallout of what has become one of the most unsightly scars on the face of British policing.

Unlike Kieron Barry's acclaimed verbatim drama 'Stockwell', which focused solely on the inquest, 'This Much Is True' casts its net far wider, using interviews with Assistant Met Commissioner Andy Hayman and Michael Mansfield QC (who represented the de Menezes family during the inquest) alongside transcripts, media footage and interviews with family, friends and campaign supporters.

On Paul Willis's effectively cluttered traverse stage, Tim Roseman's cast of six play various characters with unyielding commitment. Justine Waddell nails it as Canadian whistleblower Lana Vandenberghe and her shape-shifting evocation of Mansfield, fluttering between dandy man and heavyweight social crusader, is a revelation. And Gerald Kyd is fantastically slippery as Hayman. But in giving a space to so many voices, the production sometimes lacks clarity. For all its carefully assembled facts and viewpoints, perhaps a simpler rendering would have packed a greater emotional punch.