By Lucy Komisar
Mark Thomas is a British political actor. That means that the plays he performs in usually have strong social justice content. Sometimes in solo plays he brilliantly creates multiple characters. That is the case in “Ordinary Decent Criminal,” Written by Ed Edwards, directed by Charlotte Bennett, whose ironic title is explained near the end.
A masterful performer, as Thomas changes character, his face alters, his eyes pierce or glare, his body shifts, his voice and accent become someone else.
It’s a noisy prison yard in the north of England. Frankie Donnelly (Thomas) with a south London accent, recalls the first time he got stabbed, thinking “Now I can live.” Meaning the threat is over, because it has happened?
The play is done in flashbacks. He is a political radical and then a drug dealer in Manchester. He says he uses drugs to stay sane. He gets 3 ½ years for importing.
Shift to the past. The striking mine workers don’t support the Irish rebels: “They wouldn’t recognize revolution…The press call the IRA terrorist. Like the French Resistance were terrorists for fighting Nazis. Welcome to England.”
The night the Berlin wall fell, he thinks, “They will smash the welfare state.” He gives up on activism and turns to drugs.
But the movement never leaves him. He talks about socialist Jewish students for Palestine. “Vans pull up,” police beat them. And, “This is the way. Revolution in Chile, South Africa, Palestine.”
Inside, drugs makes him feel like he belongs again. Bright colored lights sparkle from metal traffic barriers that are the set. (The cell seat is a covered toilet. Set by Lydia Denno.) Life inside is bleak. There are drugs and phone-card currency. An inmate stabs a guy who raped him. He is found hanging in his cell, a “suicide.”
But the surprise that explains the title is “Belfast Tony,” the acknowledged prisoners’ leader. The mystery is what he is in for. Frankie finds out, and Tony tells him, “No one knows why I am in here except you.” He explains that “ordinary decent criminals” do what his brother did.
Outside, Frankie, now 58, joins his activist daughter in a demonstration against illegal house destruction in Palestine. It doesn’t end well.
This is a bleak but stunning play in the Mark Thomas tradition of compelling, fervent political theater.
“Ordinary Decent Criminal.” Written by Ed Edwards, directed by Charlotte Bennett. Produced by Paines Plough and others. Summerhill TechCube 0, Edinburgh. Runtime 1hr10min. July 31 to Aug 25, 2025.