19:45, Tue 1st – Sat 5th March 2016 at ADC Theatre
Lent Week 7

“Oh God, let me not give in to hope.”

The second instalment in David Hare's critically acclaimed trilogy of British institutions, 'Murmuring Judges' takes a look at the inner workings of a bleak justice system. Our prisons are full. Our police don't care. And our judges don't listen.

Gerard McKinnon, a young and struggling father of two, is sentenced to 5 years in prison and left to rot. As the rest of the world keeps turning, only junior barrister Irina Platt dares to question the judge’s decision. As alibis unravel and tensions rise, Gerard and Irina find themselves confronting the true nature of the law: distanced, disillusioned and disinterested. ‘Murmuring Judges’ still resonates today as a brutal portrayal of privilege, patriarchal society and punishment without purpose.

“It seems obvious to an outsider. All this behaviour, the honours, the huge sums of money, the buildings, the absurd dressing up. They do have a purpose. It’s anaesthetic. It’s to render you incapable of imagining life the other way around.”