Hyperlynx

A sunny September day. Heather Smithson, a senior MI5 controller, has a dilemma. Her job is on the line. She pauses in the sunshine to brood on recent events and what they mean in her life. Seattle, Genoa, New York: What is the battleground? Who is the enemy? Hyperlynx was performed as a one act rehearsed reading at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2001. Its grim premonition of the terrorist activity of September 11th, necessitated that John McGrath wrote a second act. He completed the play in November before his death in January 2002.

The woman is accustomed to taking on difficult assignments, to suppressing her feelings in the line of duty, to being responsible disposing of or silencing those the system wants out of the way. However, when her task is to infiltrate the anti-capitalist movement - young, diverse and full of hope for change - the MI5 agent begins to question her role. Are these people valid targets? And aren't they right to protest at the devastation caused by the greed of the multi-nationals, whose power has been allowed to grow unchecked?