Theatre review: S-27

Of all the theatres under threat because of Covid-19 I cannot imagine a greater sense of loss than if the Finborough were to close its doors permanently. In the year of its 40th anniversary the tiny venue, which is perched atop a pub in west London, has been clinging to existence by releasing a new play every month during its closure.

The latest is a recording of Sarah Grochala’s bleak but gripping response to Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge-inflicted genocide. Performed in 2009 it is exactly the kind of modest-in-means but richly rewarding theatre that, under artistic director Neil McPherson, this venue regularly conjures, seemingly out of not much more than thin air.

That said, it looks like no expense was spared in realising designer Olivia Altaras’s recreation of the school that the Khmer Rouge turned into a notorious interrogation centre. All the action takes place in the corner of a classroom, a set built with an eye for detail right down to the stains on the walls once occupied by pictures and posters.

Grochala’s starting point is the thousands of inmates who were photographed by the real-life photographer Nhem En before being executed. The portraits, with an ID tag around the neck of each victim, have since been used as a form of silent testimony. But Grochala puts words to these images by imagining the moments just before the shutter is pressed by the photographer whose name here is May, played by Pippa Nixon.