* Shading The Crime by Christine Roberts "If you knew that we were being forced to drink paint stripper as you were swilling our cheap and fruity local wine, you would do something." Shading the Crime is based in a Special Police Unit in an unnamed country where torture is used to humiliate, control, and exert power over 'political prisoners'. This country has a healthy tourist industry despite its human rights atrocities and is also seeking to secure trade deals. The play explores the duplicity of Western countries when dealing with and selling torture equipment to countries which they know to be involved in human rights abuses. By highlighting the set patterns of recruitment which are used when torturers are employed, Shading the Crime also aims to dispel the myth that torturers are a small group of people who are 'born evil'. It poses the uncomfortable notion that we are all potentially capable of dehumanization under certain extreme circumstances and that many people avoid taking action due to financial rewards or because a country offers a desirable holiday destination. We mentally "shade out the crime". Events such as those depicted in the play unfortunately are not fictional, nor are they rare. Lusty Juventus used movement, vocal representation, choreographed dance, and scripted text to expressionistically create a claustrophobic environment in which manipulated people find their own specific and often shocking ways of dealing with violence. Shading the Crime premiered on 12 January 1998 at the New Theatre, Exeter, before transferring to the Hackney Empire Studio Theatre, London (14 - 17 January) and then the Man in the Moon Theatre, London (22 - 31 January). playwright: Christine Roberts performers: James Barlow, Lara Fergus, Mark McGarvey, Mark Shorto, Ruth Way, Kelly Wright directors: Christine Roberts & Roberta Mock choreography: Ruth Way set design/construction & poster design: Russell Frampton lighting design: Cyril Squire sound design: Rube props/costumes: Sam Shaw production photography: Sarah Swainson This production was supported by Amnesty International UK, and was financially supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of England. The playtext can be read in Christine Roberts, Tormented Minds: Three Plays (Intellect Books, 2003). press quotes: "This was 'in your face' theatre which had audience members sobbing and gasping with horror... "In unison we winced as the male officers kicked, slapped and strung up the prisoners. But the image that will linger came as Prisoner 1 (Ruth Way) sewed her lips together as an act of defiance to gain media attention. "Kelly Wright's portrayal of a young mother torn away from her family touched a nerve as in her cell she felt the letters embossed on her leg irons, S-H-E-F-F-I-E-L-D, and wondered where it was and how someone could make them. "There were brave performances all round ..." (Nicola Old, Express & Echo, 15 January 1998)