Review: Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diary... Hell

By Charles Pamment
BBC News Online in Edinburgh

Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diary... Hell - an adaptation of the Conservative peer's top-selling novel - has opened at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Archer donated his rugby top (centre) for use in the play

This adaptation, the first attempt by writer and director James Rayment, charts Lord Archer's three weeks behind bars in London's top security Belmarsh Prison after being sentenced to four years for perjury in 2001.

Archer, although not accepting an offer to perform in the play - or act as the voice of the judge that sentences him - has given his full support to the venture.

It flows rapidly between scenes from prison life, concentrating largely on Archer's relationship with his fellow inmates and the prison hierarchy.

Archer is played with uncanny familiarity by the capable Andrew McBean - sporting the original Tigger rugby shirt Archer wore in prison. But the three supporting actors find themselves playing an extensive range of roles that at times lack characterisation.

The rosta of hardened criminals and prison staff, all becoming Archer's friends and admirers, is frustratingly predictable.

Archer is portrayed as a man who, for some reason, deserves respect. The quiet little chats he has with the prison governor about teaching creative writing make it wholly unbelievable. You could hear the audience sigh with a craving for at least someone to dislike him.

'Banged up'

The meat to this show, though, is Archer himself and how he copes with being "banged up".

Lord Archer has given the play his backing

The writing is clever, the constant reference to public school perhaps provides the window into the two sides of Archer's prison experience.

On one side there is a world of boredom, routine and the lack of creature comforts. The other is of juvenile excitement and the self indulgent glee of invincibility that his celebrity status confers upon him.

This is a credible first piece of writing and much credit must go to the four actors, especially McBean and Redd Pepper, who commands a unique stage presence.

However, the reason it's difficult to engage with this play is that Archer is portrayed as such an unsympathetic and selfish character that one comes to the conclusion that they just don't care.

This adaptation fails to offer the audience the opportunity to feel sorry for Archer. Even if he is the pompous and unremorseful brat we see on stage, this is surely an opportunity that has been missed.

Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diary... Hell runs at the Underbelly until 29 August.