Morning all,

Yesterday I was lucky enough to watch the dress rehearsal for The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning before they opened for the festival in the evening. I was highly interested in the whole story of Bradley Manning before hand, yet after the show I feel so much more informed!

The reason I am blogging about this the morning after is that I may have been up all last night watching wikileaks documentaries, one of which 'We steal secrets' and looking further into the details of Bradley's story.

In the evening at 7:30 I also watched the live streaming of the show which you can watch live each time the show is performed you can watch here at 2:30 and 7:30 today! and I really recommend that you tune in if your not at Edinburgh because not only can you watchthe show but you can chat live with other viewers and also there are many interesting links that you can have a browse on which take you further into Bradley's story.

So more about the show...

One obvious thing that strikes me is how current the show is, when your watching it you are familiar with parts of the story line as it's in the news as we speak. Yet the play delves deeper into the name we are used to hearing about on the news, it reveals Bradley Manning as a human being rather than just the hero/traitor/Wikileaks guy that we may hear of him as.

It is clear when watching the play why Tim Price had recieved the James Tait Black prize for the play and I just couldn't get over how well written and directed it is. The events in the story unfold fluidly with great changes in tempo and intensity. Throughout the play each cast member plays Bradley Manning, including the female cast which helps to show the many layers of Bradley's character. One scene that stood out to me was when he was in his cell, and the audience are drawn in with him and his echoing mind is reflected to us. 

Off to tell everyone on the mile that they must come and watch this show....