The Independent, 5.17.10: New Tom Stoppard play shines light on torture in the name of freedom

Latest work by Britain's leading dramatist targets rights abuses of 'War on Terror'

Stoppard's scene deals with torture, or "Pizza" as Nighy's character, an arrogant military figure in charge of a shady black site prison, insists on calling it.

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For Stoppard, who has had a long association with human rights groups, describing a list of torture techniques with a seemingly harmless acronym such as "P.I.Z.Z.A." seemed like the kind of thing militaries and governments do nowadays.

"It just seemed plausible," he says, after rehearsals have come to an end. "There's no [Pizza] list as far as I'm aware. But of course there are lists, regulations and no-go areas in the way people under arrest are treated, whether it's military or civilian. One of the things which is constantly going on – and one doesn't know how bad or how widespread it all is – is that the regulations are bent and flexible."

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Oh dear.  The cast!  The play!  How I wish I could see this.