Gibraltar by Alastair Brett and Sian Evans Arcola Studio 2

Gibraltar, by Alastair Brett with Sian Evans, at the Arcola Studio 2, a fringe venue in east London, from 27 March to 20 April 2013.

Directed by James Robert Carson, designed by Cordelia Chisholm, lighting by Mike Robertson.

Based on the hugely controversial shooting by the SAS in Gibraltar of three unarmed Provisional IRA terrorists in 1988. Hear how the Government got it wrong, how the press got it wrong and how television got it wrong. Decide who you think got it right and who told the truth. Was it simply ‘shoot to kill’ – the state summarily executing three terrorists – or did a police blunder cause a highly classified secret operation to go horribly wrong?

"The themes in Gibraltar raise serious questions about the culture, practices and ethics of journalism and how the media can and will ‘spin’ material and fail to check or omit uncomfortable facts in the headlong rush to publish or broadcast a ‘scoop’. Following the shootings, a television documentary provoked a massive press backlash; the Government’s account of the shootings was challenged and witnesses’ backgrounds and reputations were trashed in the programme’s aftermath - the truth was buried in a welter of accusation and counter-accusation."

- by Darren Dalglish