Amicus production of The Exonerated stars former death row inmates and top barristers to raise awareness of wrongful death penalty convictions

In the United States today, for every nine people executed, one is proven innocent. Amicus, a UK-based charity that helps provide representation for those facing the death penalty in the United States, hopes to raise awareness of this and other human rights issues surrounding the death penalty in an exciting one-off production of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s The Exonerated on 16 May at Middle Temple Hall.

The Exonerated is an amazingly powerful play that tells the story of six real-life cases of innocent people who were sentenced to death and subsequently exonerated. It’s not only their story, but the story of many others still on death row and the people in their lives. Told using extracts from actual court records and their own words, it’s beautifully woven together by the writers to leave the audience with a sense of the injustices and emotional anguish suffered by these people.

The play debuted off-Broadway in 2002 and was later adapted into a movie starring Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover. For Margot Ravenscroft and the team at Amicus, it’s become a very personal project: “I was incredibly moved the first time I saw this play, it’s a script that stays with you for life. And now, years on having personally met and worked closely with some of the people whose story this play tells, it is a real privilege to be able to produce it to benefit Amicus, in assisting people who still today face the death penalty without a fair trial process. To produce this play is something I have had in my mind for years; the impact of theatre and particularly this play on everyone who sees it live should not be underestimated.”

It’s the personal stories that touch us – the thought that but for the hand of fate, it could be us, our daughter, our son. We are forced to be in their personal thoughts, drawn in by knowing the words are actually their words – not fiction but fantastical fact. The writers’ skill in bringing together these stories to a dramatic effect means that you are left not only moved, but emotionally wiser.

The cast is a mixture of professional actors, exonerees and high-profile legal personalities – barristers are perhaps all frustrated actors, after all. Acting stars include Jamie Parker, currently playing Harry Potter in the West End and Chris Jarman, another stage and screen star. The legal stars are barristers Leslie Thomas QC and Tunde Okewale MBE, who appear alongside death row exoneree Sunny Jacobs, who plays herself. Everyone who read the script was convinced that this was a play that needed to happen. All of the actors have a real interest in the injustices of the world an understanding of these powerful characters. Leslie and Tunde as civil rights barristers have a natural empathy with the issues of this play and understood its importance.

This production is particularly poignant, as Sunny Jacobs will be playing herself. If you’ve ever heard Sunny speak generally, she speaks from the heart and it’s an incredible experience to have her in this production; you almost hold your breath so as not to interrupt her. Peter Pringle, another exoneree, will be playing the part of Gary – again, this really does bring the emotion of the play to the surface. Peter and Sunny are actually also husband and wife, after finding love and a rare level of understanding not only in their shared experiences of being wrongly convicted, but also in their strength of forgiveness and positive energy that’s palpable in their words and actions. They now use that strength to run a sanctuary for exonerated prisoners in rural Ireland called the Sunny Center.

People will come away from this performance with a greater understanding of the humanity of people facing the death penalty, and be moved by these personal and touching stories. But they’ll also leave with an understanding of the importance of human rights, and hopefully support Amicus who are working with these stories every day; intensely dramatic and personal tales, the stories of many, many more people.

Amicus was founded in 1992 by Jane Officer, in memory of Andrew Lee Jones, who was executed in Louisiana in 1991. The two had met and become friends through LifeLines, a UK-based organisation that provides support to death row inmates through letter-writing. Despite a lack of scientific evidence linking him to the crime, Andrew was convicted of murder by an all-white jury, in a trial that took less than a day. Details of his mental illness were withheld by the prosecution, vital mitigation was not presented and he was represented by an inexperienced lawyer who had never tried a capital case. Good representation could have saved Andrew’s life, but instead his death became the inspiration for Amicus.

Today Amicus takes on a huge scope of work, supported by dedicated staff and volunteers. They provide assistance through pro bono caseworkers based in the United Kingdom; working with over a dozen different firms and more than 200 individuals, we’re able to coordinate key work remotely that makes a huge difference. We also send out 30-40 US-based interns a year, who work directly with capital lawyers in eighteen different offices across the breadth of death penalty states.

The bi-annual training attracts high-profile experts in the field of capital defence and introduces UK lawyers to the key issues faced and important training in preparing a capital case. They also work on various constitutional projects in support of fair trials in capital cases. Recent success in the Supreme Court in the Bobby Moore case demonstrates what can be achieved; many dedicated Amicus volunteers made this possible. The ruling in this case will affect a great many cases involving intellectually disabled people facing the death penalty.

Human rights abuses internationally are everyone’s responsibility; come and see this play and you will not only see a great production, but educate yourself and gain a deeper understanding of important human rights issues. Support Amicus; with more support more is done and help provided to many more people. With limited resources, Amicus relies on donations in order to do its vital work.

Tickets are on sale now for this special one-off performance of The Exonerated presented by Amicus on 16 May.