Legal Fictions The Dock Brief / Edwin (Double Bill)

Genre: Comedy
Opened 28 Feb 2008
Written: John Mortimer
Directed: Christopher Morahan
Cast: Edward Fox, Nicholas Woodeson, Polly Adams
Synopsis: The writer of Rumpole of the Bailey brings his insider knowledge to this double-bill of legal drama. The Dock Brief and Edwin use barbed wit and judicial humour to show that the law can make an ass of any of us.
THE DOCK BRIEF, an incompetent barrister, Morganhall is asked to represent the lugubrious Mr Fowle who confesses to murdering his jovial wife. Although the two of them rehearse a masterly defence in the cell, when they reach the courtroom everything goes horribly wrong.
EDWIN, retired High Court Judge, Fennimore Truscott can't break the habit of trying as many people as he can - in his imagination. But when he turns his overly suspicious mind towards his wife's friendship with the next door neighbour, he opens up a can of worms.

What the popular press had to say.....
NICK CURTIS for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "elegant, witty works but so laboriously pleased with themselves and their observations on the stagy nature of the law that they put under severe strain the innate affection one feels for both writer and actor." SAM MARLOWE for THE TIMES says, "Dusty and dated though both plays are, they have their charms...Unremarkable entertainment, yet it still sometimes beguiles."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Times