Edinburgh Festival Day 5: Festival Eye

'The boys are innocent, I'm telling you. Don't talk to me about art or theatre when there are three guys rotting away in a 10ft cell and one already dead.' Playwright James O'Brien is addressing the throng in Black Bo's Bar. His play, Redemptive, is about the murder of newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater and, says O'Brien, the wrongful conviction of four men for his murder. 'This isn't some arty shit on the Fringe. It's not theatre. This is real. I'm angry.' His brother Danny then takes over: 'You mark my words, those boys will be out by Christmas and someone else will be sent down. It's a dead cert.' James sups his beer and then continues. 'We're not trying to give the audience a good time. We're trying to wake them up and get the boys out.' The mother of James Hickey, youngest of the Bridgewater four, is due to attend today's performance. - Redemptive: Richard Demarco Gallery (venue 22) 031-557 0707.