The other night I went along to see 'The Exonerated' at the Liberty Hall Center on Dublin's Eden Quay. The Exonerated is a true story about 6 innocent people wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death in American courts. Each story is as shocking and chilling as the next in what is an utter indictment to the legal system in the land which champions equality and freedom for all. As the play progresses we learn of each persons journey from the initial arrest, to forced confessions, police brutality, judicial incompetence and unlawful detention, culminating in the terrifying wait on death row. The overriding theme is that these are ordinary, mainly poor people who have suffered great injustice at the hands of a state.

Each story is told in a rather unconventional manner with the cast of ten sitting in a row on stage with a spot light shining on them as they speak. The stories interweave, with actors taking on multiple roles. All the monologue and dialogue is that of actual, spoken and written word sourced from diaries, court reports and interviews with each character. It makes for a compelling and gripping story but is not short of some wry wit and thoughtful insights either. The addition of Sunny Jacobs who plays herself adds an extra poignancy to the show. Now in her sixties and living in the west of Ireland, she spent 17 years in prison, five of them on death row along with her husband who was executed for a crime they did not commit .

It is a compelling play which most certainly had an impact on me and fully deserved the standing ovation it received at the end. I'm not sure if there are any tickets still available but I would highly recommend checking it out if you can.


tags:Exonerated

Published by Padraig.