Why do women fall in love with men on Death Row?  In this bite sized nugget of multimedia theatre Stephanie Ridings takes us on a journey from homespun Kenilworth where she lives with her unromantic, slightly dull partner, Stompy, to Huntsville, Texas the execution capital of the western world.

This well crafted, slickly presented and absorbing story starts by initially mocking the gullible female romantics who are blind to the evil beating in rapists and murderers’ hearts. It then follows Stephanie as she begins the journey along the heartstrings of love. Always, in the interests of research.

Stephanie is a normal British woman.  She is very fond of her one eyed house cat, proud of her Blackpool roots and probably does love the unseen Stompy, although even she would struggle to put her finger on exactly why.  She wants to research the phenomenon of the allure of Death Row on women and immerses herself, none too reluctantly, in the mass of true crime TV documentaries made by the likes of Louis Theroux and Trevor McDonald. She reads everything she can get her hands on about the subject. She experiments with dating site material on the internet.  And the next thing you know, well grounded, intelligent and all-knowing Stephanie is on her way to Texas to see a young man who looks like a ‘Hispanic James Dean’.  Only this young man has appalling spelling, has committed murder and is awaiting execution. .

We are invited to view the inhumane way that Death Row prisoners spend many years in stark, soulless cells in solitary confinement, being kept alive just to be put to death.  And we see the effect that Death Row has not just on those incarcerated, but on their families and on their victims’ families. But the main point is that we watch how Stephanie herself might just be falling in love with this man – and may even marry him for the short time he might have left before he is sent to oblivion.

Those expecting a polemical argument against the death penalty or an anthropological analysis of the effect that violent men have on women will be mildly disappointed.  However, the show delivers a gripping, well performed, entirely believable and clever piece of theatre.  A well-paced and entertaining tableau backdrop of internet, video and photographic illustrations allow the narrative to gather pace and unfold in a completely satisfying way.

Stephanie Ridings’ finely tuned, often witty, script and neat direction by Jonathan V McGrath take us through a sort of drama documentary into the world of ‘bad boy’ heavily tattooed killers, credit card execution tourism – and funny cat videos

It is easy to see why The Road to Huntsville won the Arts Award Voice Award for Pick of the Edinburgh Fringe, and is enjoying a nationwide tour.  Go and see it, not for any deep psychological insights into murderers or the women who love them, but because it’s a piece of original, entertaining and yes, genuinely funny, theatre.     ★★★★☆      Bryan Mason   15^th March 2017