9 CIRCLES Comes to Edinburgh Fringe Beginning This Week

From House of Cards writer Bill Cain and The Shark is Broken director Guy Masterson, the European premiere of 9 Circles is based on a true story of a repatriated US Army Private accused of war crimes. In a psychological thriller told through the eyes of the accused, 9 Circles asks how a soldier can be trained as a cold-blooded killing machine while clinging on to the threads of his humanity.

Private Daniel Reeves, based on the real life Steven Dale Green, has committed appalling acts, but does the blame entirely rest with him, or the army that put weapons into the hands of a clinically disturbed 19-year-old? Can we truly apply civilian moral standards to a soldier in the throes of mortal combat? The play is a Dantesque descent into the conundrums, contradictions and hypocrisies of war.

9 Circles premiered at the Storefront Theater in Chicago. The UK production sees the return of New York cast member Joshua Collins (Top Boy; Richard III, Almeida Theatre) to the central role of Daniel Reeves, and he is joined by Samara Neely Cohen (Los Angeles Opera; Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival) and David Calvitto (12 Angry Men, West End; Shawshank Redemption, Dublin).

Writer Bill Cain said, "Heaven and hell are not so far apart. In Dante's The Divine Comedy, they are adjoining territories. To get to one, you have to pass through the other. Although some of the people we meet in hell are undoubtedly evil, many are not. There are many good, beautiful, unlucky people in hell and a great many mediocrities on their way to heaven!"

Guy Masterson is the Olivier Award winning producer/director of Morecambe (2009) and more recently the critically acclaimed Olivier nominated West End hit The Shark is Broken. He began directing in 1991 with a play about his superstar uncle, Richard Burton. Over 27 consecutive seasons at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 1994, Masterson has presented over 150 shows including his own acclaimed solos Under Milk Wood (1994) and Animal Farm (1995); He has directed over 40 plays including Pip Utton's Adolf (1999); 12 Angry Men (2003) with Bill Bailey, and The Odd Couple starring Bill Bailey and Alan Davies (2005). He originated One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest starring Mackenzie Crook and Christian Slater (2004); In 2018, Guy co-wrote and directed The Marilyn Conspiracy, due to transfer to London in 2023.

Bill Cain is an American playwright and Jesuit priest. 9 Circles won him his second Steinberg Award, (following his win for Equivocation) making him the first playwright to win two years in a row. He is a producer and writer on TV series including House of Cards and Bloodline.

Suitable for ages 16+

Trigger warning: the content involves the references to accounts of sexual abuse and war atrocities.

To post a comment, you must register and login.