The story centres on the case of Tommy Anderson – a young lad born in jail and fifteen years later, found dead in jail after officers tried to restrain him during a violent episode. Fragmented scenes skitter around this period trying to find the answers about who to blame and so Tommy’s mother, his social worker and his prison guard become the focus of the play - their actions (or inactions) exposed, their behaviours examined, their responsibilities explored.
And born out of his hard-won experience, Thompson bravely holds back from offering any easy answers, or any definitive answers at all. He offers beautifully rounded characters, full of the complexities of real life and the complicated motivations of those trying to do a good job, even as they are failing. So Claire-Louise Cordwell’s gobby mother is the embodiment of terrible parenting but herself the product of an abusive home, and Lisa Palfrey’s social worker Sue has become so disillusioned at the impossibility of helping those who don’t want to be helped that she’s basically checked out.