A Giant On The Bridge has been four years in the making. Devised by theatre maker Liam Hurley and musician Jo Mango in collaboration with some of Scotland’s leading musicians and people with lived experience of the criminal justice system, the end result is a gripping piece of gig theatre that packs a proper punch.

The team have been visiting people in prisons and those recently released for several years, to hear their stories and work with them to tell these stories through rap and song. Some of  this experience is recounted by Admiral Fallow frontman Louis Abbott during the course of the play. The other performers share interconnecting stories of a dad about to be released, his sister who’s been looking after his little daughter for the past year, and a performance poet who’s been those involved in the criminal justice system write letters to each other across the divide. As rapper and musician Solareye observes, when one person’s put in prison, their whole family serve the sentence.

This is a beautifully executed, beautifully lit (Andrew Gannon) piece of theatre. The set is part sofa sessions, part woodland glade in a nod to one of the interconnecting threads of the script. The performers are all also musicians and the script is strewn with haunting songs, some of which have been created with other leading Scottish musicians who aren’t present (Rachel Sermanni, C Duncan, Emma Pollock). The story takes us to the moment when D is released, takes his first steps out of the prison gates and wonders what he should do next. And both lyrics and script fully square up to the challenges inherent in the justice system for victims and for communities.

A huge amount of work has clearly gone into this production, courtesy of Vox Liminis and their collaboration with various universities but it wears it lightly. There aren’t any easy answers on this topic but the final track, Everything’s Spherical, offers a ray of hope: maybe there is a better way than just shutting people away.

A Giant on the Bridge is at Assembly Roxy – Central until Sun 18 Aug 2024 (except Mon 12) at 10:40