DEATH and the Maiden, Ariel Dorfman’s gripping play at the Garrick’s Lauriston Studio, is not for the faint-hearted.

Set in Chile after Pinochet, it is centred around Paulina Escobar (Tracy Burns).

Paulina cannot forget what she suffered previously under the Totalitarian regime.

A doctor, Roberto Miranda (Paul Wilson) has innocently helped her husband, Gerardo (John Keen), a member of an investigating committee for past ill deeds, when his car breaks down.

Gerardo’s wife believes he is the same doctor who assessed the limits of her endurance when she was kidnapped.

As soon as she recognises his voice, Paulina’s hackles rise.

Tracy plays Paulina in an intense, unforgiving way as her hatred spills out. Her heart beats fast as she executes the exhilarating business of revenge in an unconventional way. Nevertheless, she reveals Paulina’s vulnerability, too. It is a testing role and Tracy rises to the challenge. Her performance can’t be bettered.

Piggy in the middle is her human rights lawyer husband, Geraldo, who believes his job as a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to bring justice to offenders by the rule of law and no other way.

John captures this well and creates a character who is shocked and scared by his wife’s apparently irrational behaviour.

At times you wonder whether Roberto really was the perpetrator. Paul who plays him spends his time pleading his innocence. However, the discovery of a cassette of the Schubert quartet used to hide Paulina’s screams raises your suspicions. He gives an unforgettable monologue confessing his guilt but was he put up to it?

It’s harrowing but worth seeing and certainly keeps you guessing.

* Death and the Maiden is at the Lauriston Studio until Saturday, March 4. For tickets, ring 0161 928 1677 or view altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating: * * * *