Badac have taken over a basement corridor in Summerhall which is painted entirely in white for their dramatisation of the story of campaigning Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. We are transported underground in a rickety lift and ushered to stand against the wall by Marnie Baxter, who plays our eponymous heroine.

What ensues is sixty-five minutes worth of melodramatic theatre that mistakes putting the audience in the situation of hostages as a way of understanding the plight of silenced journalists and victims of terrorism. It may have seemed like a clever choice to subject the audience to inhumane conditions and no escape from constant abuse, high-octane screeching in one’s ear and what seems like an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for most use of the ‘c’ word in a play. Some people might respond to this kind of manipulative performance tactics, but it made me fill with anger of the wrong sort.

Instead of caring about Politkovskaya’s courageous attempt to report the terrible injustices of her government (a story infinitely worth telling) Steve Lambert’s Anna made me frustrated with their theatrical choices, completely undermining the importance of the subject matter. As Anna, Baxter is to be commended for a steely performance in an otherwise over-the-top display of trying too hard. Lambert’s writing and direction is repetitive and tiresome. Following fifteen minutes of non-stop shouting and Lambert himself heavy-breathing in the corner (he plays the part of Our Glorious Leader) all I could do was stare at the floor, count the minutes until escape and try not to catch other frustrated audience members’ eyes for fear of giggling.