Explosive look at local history

This question by Churchill, possibly knowing the Luftwaffe's intended target but refusing to take necessary defensive measures in order to conceal the British Enigma code-breaking knowledge from the Germans, is still of interest.

The days when many people expected their leaders to have any moral scruples, however, have long gone, buried finally by Tony Blair.

Pollock treats the "fat bastard" Churchill issue almost as an incidental in his moving and, in a physical sense, shocking treatment of the sacrifice of over 500 lives. But guilt still remains as a central theme.

The first half settles comfortably into a familiar working-class family scene.

The Communist shop steward father finds himself distrusting daughter Katie's new boyfriend, a Jewish Oxford lecturer now working on the deciphering secrets of Bletchley Park. Is it a bosses' or a people's war?

In the second half, the domestic world becomes a Dantesque inferno as a defenceless Coventry is pulverised over 11 hours.

Alan Pollock doesn't avoid the attendant horrors of the home-front war. Katie's younger sister is raped in the bombed ruins of her house.

Daniel Brocklebank's Michael and Joanna Christie's Katie are convincing as innocent first-sight lovers.

When, with hours to go, he discovers the intended German target city, he faces a dilemma - should he let Katie and her family know, an act of love, treason or both, or do his national duty?

Hamish Glen's production, with sterling work by sound designer John Scott, literally explodes into life and death in a second half which goes as far as any theatrical presentation could to recapture the horrific trauma of the city's death throes.

The finale on a stage strewn with carefully placed empty shoes, reminiscent of those concentration camp images, speaks with an eloquence beyond words.

This is a play for and about the universal moral obscenity of war. It is also for and about Coventry. The city's education authority should encourage all secondary schools to see and feel their history.

Plays until March 29. Box office: (024) 7655-3055.

GORDON PARSONS