Iron transformed into precious metal

10:48am Thursday 24th January 2008

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THOUGHT-provoking and hard-hitting, Iron, the current production from 4Play Theatre Company, offers a powerful evening's entertainment with a central performance from Vey Straker that is quite brilliant.

Playing Fay, who is serving life for the murder of her partner, Vey is utterly convincing in the role of a woman who has created a new version of herself - until the daughter she hasn't seen for ten years arrives to visit her.

Both women want something for themselves from the relationship - Josie, an intense and credible performance from Poppy Wilde, wants to remember her father, wants back the childhood she has no memory of: "I didn't think I had anything anyone could take from me," says a bemused Fay, who wants to experience a different kind of life vicariously through her daughter.

The relationship is at the heart of the play, but playwright Rona Martin uses it to explore three things: "The attitude of someone going into prison, the attitude of someone in prison, and the whole issue around families," she said in an interview with The Independent. "You have this unbelievable boredom in prison. So when a bit of outside life comes in, it's extremely intense."

And that intensity is palpable in The Courtyard's Studio theatre, where Iron plays until Saturday. As events unfold and truths are revealed, the audience finds its allegiance shifting: Did Fay intentionally kill Josie's father? Where do our sympathies lie? And is her crime something anyone could commit if pushed far enough, or does only a certain type act like that?

The 4Play quartet is completed by Asha Burrell-Jones and David Duthie as prison guards, both delivering great support to the two leads. If you value great drama, this is an unmissable production in which the third reinvention of 4Play prove themselves dramatic alchemists, turning Iron into precious metal. To book, call the box office on 0870 1122330 or click on the link below.