Paul Tinto in Edinburgh award-winning play

Arran’s Paul Tinto, well known as an accomplished actor even before he left school, is one of a trio who have just won a Scotsman Festival Fringe First Award for a play called Release, put on by Icon Theatre. It has also been nominated for an Amnesty International Freedom of Speech Award – a double accolade seldom seen, and indicating that this three-hander is making a strong mark on public awareness.

Release is a powerful 75-minute drama dealing with the difficulties encountered by people released after a prison sentence, and the lack of rehabilitation and support that ex-prisoners all too commonly find. The three actors play at least ten very real and convincing characters in little over an hour, and expose a scenario in which the pressures and uncertainties are all too likely to result in re-offending and further imprisonment.

Both The Times and the Scotsman have reviewed the play well, with Joyce McMillan of the Scotsman using Release as her theme in a further piece about the demands for harsh sentencing that have followed in the wake of the riots. The play is currently running at the Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh, so if you are over there to dip into the Festival’s delights, don’t miss it.