Word of mouth helped make the first staging of Only Free Men a sell-out success in Lewes. And the passion for the work of the actors starring in that first production has meant the play is now making its Brighton debut.

Penned by Lewes-based Randolph Morse, who writes under the name VR Morse, Only Free Men takes its inspiration from the events following 9/11.

Set in a cell in an unnamed location it focuses on a medical doctor, of no stated religion or cultural background, who is being interrogated by an English woman and an American intelligence officer.

"I was a little shocked by the outpouring of agitprop in the theatre after 9/11," says Morse. "The more I thought about it the more I wanted to write a play that would give voice to all sides of what was going on, which I hope this does.

"It's much more complicated to write but I think drama which does that is more powerful."

Morse directed the play's first eight-night run at the Lewes Theatre Club in November 2006, having written the piece the year before with the support of New Writing South and the Lewes Little Theatre.

"There were waiting lists for the tickets by the time the fourth performance had finished," says Morse. "It was literally through word of mouth.

"The actors were very determined to see the play produced again. They found an experienced, professional director, Nigel Fairs, who read the script and liked it, and they took the script to the Komedia who did the same. It is nothing to do with me!"

The driving forces behind this production are Michael Adams and Rob Maloney, who will be reprising their Lewes roles, with Adams as the suspect found with chemicals which have the potential to be turned into a bomb, and Maloney as the American interrogator.

Joining them will be Suzanne Procter as the English interrogator and Kate Dyson as Control.

Morse has revised the script, taking out scenes with the English Prime Minister and Attorney General, to ensure the action remains tightly focused on what happens in the cell.

"The conflict of views is not just between the suspect and the interrogators," says Morse. "It is also between the English interrogator and the American interrogator, who have serious problems with each other. There is a clash of cultures, ideologies and attitudes."

The even-handedness of the script has been further underlined by the decision to translate Only Free Men into Farsi.

"New Writing South showed the play to the Union Of Iranian Playwrights, who at this moment are translating it," says Morse. "My understanding is that they will be giving a rehearsed reading this spring at the Iranian Theatre Festival in Tehran."

In the three years since he wrote the first draft, some parts of the play have begun to reflect real life - not least in the occupation of the interrogation suspect.

"The play talks a fair amount about the suspect's view of the world as a physician," says Morse. "It was only later we discovered that doctors were implicated in the attempt to blow up Glasgow Airport."

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