The name of this piece, which is subtitled "An Evening with Robert Maxwell", is not, well, telling a lie. Throughout his life and after his dubious death, half-truths and whole untruths circulated about the so-called "Bouncing Czech".
Now, from beyond the grave, the man himself returns to peddle some more porkies. Or should that be set the record straight? It's hard to call when Philip York's Maxwell starts to contradict his own slippery, heavily airbrushed narrative.
What is beyond dispute is the verve which York, a startling Maxwell lookalike, brings to the role and the supreme confidence with which he inhabits the tiny stage for this solo show.
Addressing his audience in peremptory yet jocular fashion, York has us, against our better judgment, warming to the old rogue. What's a few hundred million siphoned off a pension fund when the man has such a cheeky twinkle in his eye?
With the help of playwright Rod Beacham, this particular Maxwell frames his actions in the context of a lifelong battle for acceptance into the closed ranks of the British establishment. How, he fumes, could people not trust his wartime valour, his fluency in eight languages, his business accomplishments? Why the obsession with "f***ing details"?
Mirror Group pensioners could answer that, but ultimately York, Beacham and director Alan Dossor cannot make a strong enough argument for the work's relevance. Even the inevitable revisiting of that fateful night on the boat offers scarce insight. Lies, with a little truth mixed in somewhere, have been recycled.
Until 28 January. Information: 0870 060 6632.
Lies Have Been Told - An Evening With Robert Maxwell
