Prisoner of the Crown

PRISONER OF THE CROWN, a broad and bitter indictment of judicial abuse, is the riveting story of the trial of Sir Roger Casement, an Irish patriot and one of the world's great humanitarians. A few short years after being knighted, Casement was sentenced to be hanged for treason in what was called "The Trial of the Century." The sensational trial was tainted by the presence of the "Black Diaries" -an alleged explicit account of Casement's promiscuous homosexual lifestyle. Were the diaries real? Or, were they, as many believed, forged by the crown forces determined that he pay the ultimate price for his role in the Easter 1916 uprising? The play, set in the jury room of the Old Bailey and elsewhere in the minds of twelve jurors who reenact key events during their deliberation, paints a captivating picture of heroism, passion and manipulative deception.