Writer and Director: Robert Icke
In the same vein as Punch, Robert Icke’s Manhunt, a drama based on the last days of murderer Raoul Moat, suggests that the structures placed on masculinity, especially working-class masculinity, are too narrow, Jacob Dunne in James Graham’s play currently at the Young Vic with a West End transfer in September kills a man with one punch – he never meant to kill James Hodgkinson. Moat’s murder and the attempted murder of a serving policeman are different in that they are premeditated. However, somewhat heavy-handedly, Icke posits that if Moat had been allowed to show his vulnerabilities, his story would be a less tragic one. Perhaps if Moat had been given the opportunity to cry, he wouldn’t have found himself the quarry of the largest manhunt in British history.
The first half of Icke’s play is gripping as we see Moat, played by an incredibly visceral Samuel Edward-Cook, fight the charges brought upon him relating to hitting one of his children. Judges, solicitors and social workers come on to Hildegard Bechtler’s stark stage to provide the details of his alleged crimes. But by the way Moat loses his temper, throwing tables around the playing space, we can’t be sure of his innocence. The violence against his girlfriend Sam is not in doubt. Moat is full of muscle, full of steroids; a real live wire and Edward-Cook is electric in every scene. He is terrifyingly charismatic and charismatically terrifying.
But the second half of Manhunt as Moat hides in the Northumbria countryside is not so sure-footed, A complete blackout forms the centre of these two halves and provides the very necessary testimony of David Rathband, the police officer who Moat shot at close range. The voiceover is important in revealing the ‘chaos’ that Moat caused, but Rathband’s speech is used as a means to change the set. When the lights finally return, Bechtler’s prison cell is now a grass-filled meadow, complete with scraggly bushes and a real campfire. It’s a location that could have easily been constructed on Bechtler’s earlier bare stage. Indeed, it would have been more effective.
And it’s here on the fibreglass-looking field where Icke sets out his stall too obviously with Paul Gascoigne (who in real life did try to communicate with Moat during the police standoff) bemoaning the lot of men in an imagined meeting. Drunk and haggard, Gazza nevertheless acts like the therapist Moat never managed to see as he describes his own fall from grace after a certain football match. However, lacking subtlety, it’s a scene that is just too on-the-nose with Icke telling us what to think, rather than asking questions we can go home with.
Still, most of the play is directed with verve and the crystal-clear projections on the gauze-layered prison bars bring something akin to television crime shows to the proceedings. Presumably, they are mostly shot live, but the final images when Moat is cornered imply that they could be all prerecorded, somewhat removing the theatricality of the show.
While definitely not a hagiography, Manhunt still suffers from a lack of nuance, but Edward- Cook’s towering, chilling performance makes up for some of the flaws.
Runs until 3 May 2025
