What's the point of verbatim drama when the wrongs it seeks to right have lost their topicality? Emily Mann's tribunal play replays the trial of Harvey Milk's killer, Daniel James White. It's a fascinating case but, 30 years on, Mann's forensic scrutiny can feel monotonous.
White was a conservative district supervisor in San Fransisco. That White shot Milk and Mayor George Moscone is never in question, but was it murder or manslaughter?
The play sets out to show that, at his trial, the establishment protected one of its own. Defence Attorney Douglas Schmidt (an arch Christopher Lane) argues that for a reasonable man to act so thoroughly out of character he must do so irrationally (thus ruling out premeditation) and fire chiefs, politicians and even the homicide chief, offer favourable witness statements.
Well acted by a cast of 20, Joss Bennathan's production plays it straight. But despite flashes of urgency, this too often feels like one retro suit after another, and I left wanting to know more about Milk himself than his killer.