“Your Ever Loving” by People’s Theatre Company
Nottingham Arts Theatre Studio.

“Your Ever Loving” by Martin McNamara is based on the true story of Paul Hill, one of the Guildford Four who were accused of planting IRA bombs in pubs and wrongly imprisoned for 15 years. It uses letters written by Hill to his family during his incarceration and now stored in a university archive.

The IRA bomb crowded pubs in Guildford and Woolwich. Press and public are outraged and angry. Convictions must be got. Parliament passes emergency legislation. Police get draconian powers to interrogate suspects.

Paul Hill, 20, is the first man held under this new legislation. After seven days in Guildford Police Station, Hill has confessed to his role in three bombings and eight murders. Hill and his three co-accused will spend the next 15 years in prison until their convictions are quashed and they are freed. The case of the Guildford Four remains one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

What this play lacks in visuals it really makes up for in historical content with sound bites and song excerpts from the years covered by the periods highlighted by the story time line.

It also highlights the way that the prison service treat their inmates, spitting in their food and their tea, beatings and making sure that bedding was always wet, meaning that Hill had to sleep sitting on a hard chair.

The play shows how the young Hill reacted to imprisonment and the lies recorded in his files in order to get a conviction from him. The threats to his family, and the all important letters that Hill wrote over the years. It also shows the football mad Hill and his musical tastes. A typical teenager growing up in an environment far from typical.

The play is hard hitting and one that you need to listen to in order to get the full impact. I said that it lacked a visual impact, and it did in parts, but when you really got into listening to a theatrical production instead of relying totally on visuals, that is when you really start to paint the full picture that these letters wanted to depict.

Directed by Chris Teasdale and assisted by Harry Ilyk, who along with Charlotte Bellamy controlled the light and sound, this was not the easiest of plays to bring to life on a stage, but in the end, it worked. You just need to approach theatre in a new way to get the most out of some plays.

OK, there where were several sections that could have been tightened up and seconds could have been shaved of the production, but when you only have the one chance to get it spot on, on the night, this is a luxury you don't have when compared to a week long run of a play.

The cast, some only making cameo appearances, were Alice Cox, Beth Hinchliffe, Barbara Benner, Roy Smith, Robert Suttle - who I have seen in a completely different light in his role - Graham Lambert, Hayden Bradley and Chris Teasdale, brought the play together in what was not the easiest of plays to put on, but a fascinating play to experience.

This gritty play is part of a triple bill under the umbrella of "Miscarriage Of Justice" along with "My Father's Watch" on Thursday and "Example" on Friday, and then all three performed on Saturday

It was a shame that the audience was not a bigger one, because this play,and the other two, is a brave choice and it's good that a theatre company takes risks like this to bring plays that are not performed to the local stage. Something we need to support.

You can see “Your Ever Loving” once more on Saturday 23 November at 1pm.