“I have done terrible, horrible things, now do you think anything less of me?” asks Thomas McCrudden, who has come to the stage in his middle age, to finally stop acting. To drop the “mask” of the hard man that brought him a six-year sentence for attempted murder. Grassmarket Projects has devised ‘Doubting Thomas’ with a group of five ex-offenders, based on McCrudden’s autobiographical writing. The brilliantly paced narrative flashes enigmatically between past and present, wrecking the boundary between fiction and reality. The performers are reliving, revealing, and demanding that we really ‘see’ them; their quiet, raw, honesty will give your moral core whiplash.

Summerhall, until 28 Aug.
tw rating 5/5 | [Jane Berg]