Prisoner of his mind

Personal tragedy pierces through Tanika Gupta's lucid dramatisation of the case of Zahid Mubarek, an Asian teenager sentenced to 90 days at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution for stealing razor blades from a supermarket and 'interfering' with a car.

On the morning of his release, March 21, 2000, Mubarek was beaten into a coma by his cellmate, Robert Stewart, a young man with a history of racist violence. Mubarek died seven days later.

Gupta's account is never swamped by the Mubarek family's grief, concentrating instead on their search for justice. Offered compensation and a tree planted in their son's memory, the family squared off against the prison service and the Government instead, forcing the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to allow a public inquiry into why their son was placed in a cell with a man described as 'a disaster waiting to happen'.

The play, updated since its first outing before Christmas, is both memorial and indictment. Gupta's investigation of the failings of the prison system differentiates meticulously between fact and fiction - we always know what is verbatim material or fictional reconstruction.

While it offers no answers as to why prisons are, in effect, housing mental health patients, it does hint that this is a 'sausage factory industry', cranking out prisoners and crippled by underfunding.

A few of the performances waver but Ray Panthaki (who plays Mubarek) and Kevin Trainor (who plays Stewart) are excellent in Charlotte Westenra's strong production. The results of the Mubarek inquiry are expected in June and Gladiator Games brings home the importance of the case. This is powerful documentary theatre and impossible to dismiss.

Until Feb 25, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square E15, Mon to Sat 7.30pm, £8 to £20, £4 to £10 concs. Tel: 020 8534 0310. www.stratfordeast.com Tube: Stratford

Gladiator Games