Man Hunt At Royal Court Theatre Review
Raoul Moat was a callous murderer. Full Stop. End of story’ – David Cameron
On July 1st, 2010, Raoul Moat was released from Durham Prison. The events of the next few days would leave a man murdered, a police officer blinded, a woman fighting for her life – and spark the biggest manhunt in UK history. Now, award-winning writer and director Robert Icke (Oedipus, Player Kings,West End) has created a chilling portrait of a man on the run.
Walking into the theatre, Samuel Edward-Cook as Raoul is pacing behind a screen with aerial footage of him. The concrete and stainless steel helps to convey the image of a caged animal. You can’t help but watch as he paces, waiting for the official start of the production. He even startled members of the audience when he hit the structure. Already we are seeing Moat’s use of violence, and we see an escalation of this as the play continues. Don’t go in expecting a feel-good play- this is a play with themes of violence, domestic abuse, mental health and childhood trauma at its core.
Ickle has chosen to stage the events as a court room drama. Here, various characters move about the stage, playing a variety of roles, as they challenge Moat’s account and show us key aspects of his childhood and moments leading up to his decision to murder. Throughout, Edward-Cook will address the audience directly, speaking to us like we are the jury. He plays the role well, as we see his changes in mood.
The muscled Edward-Cook is physically intimidating when placed against Sally Meesham (playing his partner Samantha), specially when he throws her against a table. There were loud gasps from the audience at this point and it’s a testament to his acting that when he pointed the gun at the audience, two ladies in front of me actually moved to the side.
I’m still vividly remembering a scene about David Rathband, an officer Moat shot. The whole theatre becomes dark and we hear his narration (voiced by Nicholas Tennant) as he talks about how that action impacted his life. As someone who didn’t know about Raoul Moat, not having lived in the UK at the time, I went onto the play not really knowing what happened so it was not til partway through this scene that I realised the blackness represented that Rathband had been blinded. It is the most uncomfortable scene to sit through but for me the most memorable.
When the lights go up following this blackout, Hildeflgard Bechtler’s set has transported us to the Northumbrian countryside. With the grass, blue skies and fire, it’s in contrast to some of the final words, where Moat speaks to the audience saying we don’t want our sons to be like him. There’s also a powerful moment when you see a young actor as Moat as boy and Edward-Cook mirror movements and wearing the same shirt- we can see the young boy who he was and the man who he became.
I liked the use of live videography with a hand-held camera circling the actors projected on the screen, as Moat plans murder. On a screen above the stage we see projected dates, Moat’s texts and Rathband’s social media posts. Tom Gibbons (Dear England) sound design helps build intensity. I also liked that at 95 minutes with no intermission we were able to remain fully immersed in the story.
Manhunt’s cast include Trevor Fox, Leo James, Patricia Jones, Danny Kirrane, Angela Lonsdale with Nathan Jago, Odhran Riddell, Zoe Bryan, Madeleine Mckenna. Man Hunt is a Royal Court commission presented in co-production with Sonia Friedman Productions.
Man Hunt is performing at Royal Court Theatre until 3 May with tickets priced at £15-64.
Address: Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AS
Website: https://royalcourttheatre.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royalcourttheatre
Written by Caitlin Neal
