Manhunt by Robrt Icke. Royal Court Theatre, Jerwood Downstairs, Sloane Square, London until 03 May 2025, 4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan.

Manhunt by Robrt Icke. Royal Court Theatre, Jerwood Downstairs, Sloane Square, London until 03 May 2025,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Powerful, disturbing, violent.”

Raoul Moat went on the rampage in July2010 on his release from prison wounding his girlfriend and shooting her new lover, and then going on the run shooting David Rathbone, a police man who tried to arrest him before eventually shooting himself in Rothbury in Northumberland. Moat's story has been told on television in documentary form and the manhunt was front page news which gripped the country. Robert Icke.s play based on a book by Adrew Hankinson focuses on Moat, on what sort of man he was and why he did what he did. Hankison argued that usually dramatisations of crime tend to tell about the victims but that there was little to learn from their storiesabout the person who committed the crime - the victims had done nothing, something was done to them. Why did Moat explode on his release from prison into to violence? Icke has created a very impressive piece of theatre with a performance by Samuel Edward-Cook as Moat at its centre which is terrifying to watch but it really does not answer the questions Hankinson raises. Moat had a dreadful childhood, he was the epitome of the angry male, but he erupted partly because his partner Sam had abandoned him, he had an obsession with their children and losing them, and she lied saying her new lover was a policeman which led to the later shooting or Rothbury. Also there were all sorts of suggestions that the police manhunt was anything but properly run which never get looked into although hinted at. But the set by Hildegard Bechtler is stunning, a cage with an outside gauze wall on to which images of Moat walking round his prison cell are projected while the man in the flesh is walking behind it that are deeply unsettling. He really is a wounded animal in a cage. His obsession with his children and throwbacks to his own damaged childhood do nothing to make it any easier to watch. The cast play multiple roles impeccably with Edward-Cook delivering an outstanding performance but at the end you really know nothing new about the phenomenon of the angry male who takes out anger created in his private life in violence towards women and people in authority like the police. It is an evening when Icke uses all sorts of resources at his disposal to great effect but provides few answers to just what made Moat behave like he did – one not to miss perhaps but be forewarned, not easy watching.

Cast

Samuel Edward-Cook, Trevor Fox, Leo James, Patricia Jones, Danny Kirrane,Angela Lonsdale, Sally Messham, Nicolas Tennant, Zoe Bryan, Nathan Jago, Madeleine Mckenna, Odhran Riddel.

Creatives

Director – Robert Icke

Designer – Hildegarde Bechtler

Dialect Coach to child actors – Jess Corner

Dialect Coach to Samuel Edward-Cook – Rosie Stancliffe

Sound Designer – Tom Gibbons

Fight Director – Kev McCurdy

Lighting Designer – Azusa Ong

Video Designer – Ash J Woodward