Brian Beacom

SAM Redway smiles as he explains how it feels to be the most hated man on earth.

“It’s an interesting challenge,” he says, smiling. “But one I really enjoy.”

The Manchester-based actor has been touring Bin Laden: The One Man Show for five years.

And it’s fair to say the one-time al-Qaeda terrorist is a demanding character to play.

In western eyes he was the manifestation of evil in human form; Hitler, Vlad The Impailer and Charles Manson all rolled into one.

But was he more than that? Sam explains how the idea of playing Bin Laden came about.

“In 2013, myself and Tyrrell Jones, the co-writer and director, were living in London and we weren’t getting very far with our careers.

“So we decided to create a show. But having no money at all, we reckoned the cheapest way was to develop a one-man show, with me acting, in which he would direct.”

Sam and his director pal played around with lots of ideas.

“But for some reason I ended up telling Tyrrell about a strange experience I’d had on a train to Birmingham in 2011. It was the day Bin Laden had been killed.”

Newspapers had dedicated acres of pages to the terrorist who had masterminded the attack on the World Trades Center.

But as Sam read the obituaries the feeling descended that this mad man was a also human being.

“When I told Tyrrell about the coverage he said ‘That’s the story we’ve got to tell!’”

The pair formed Knaive Theatre Company and wrote the play, to challenge the very easy assumption that someone who commits evil acts is intrinsically evil.

“We wanted to make this face of evil something human,” he says.

By taking this stance, revealing detail of Bin Laden’s family background, etc, the play then offers a platform for discussion.

“We wanted the play to ask questions, for example about the reaction to our foreign policy in the Middle East.

“We wanted to blow open thought about our neo-colonial role in the world. We wanted to highlight the moral ambiguity surrounding all of this.”

The writing pair’s efforts have been immensely successful.

So far, Bin Laden: The One Man Show, has garnered seven major awards and been performed across the world, from New York to Copenhagen.

It had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival.

But although Bin Laden is gone, the discussion on how Britain relates to the Middle East still rages.

“We have to look at the role Bin Laden played in how the world looks now,” says Sam.

“We have Trump anti-Moslem rhetoric. We have real ambiguity for a modern audience to wrestle with.”

Sam, who was RADA-trained, doesn’t offer an impersonation of Bin Laden, the man who was reckoned to be between six feet four and six feet eight.

Although the actor specialised in Stanislavskian method acting at drama college. he hasn’t spent months in turban and robes, growing a giant beard and mouthing ‘Death to the infidel’ while watching Goggle Box.

“No, not at all,” he says, grinning. “What audiences get is someone who, on the outside, is an English as cream teas on the lawn.

“But in playing the almost opposite version of human you can find now, which is the turban-wearing, big-bearded, Arabic speaking Kalashnikov-wielding terrorist – there is something about this that blows open a huge debate about race.

“As for Stanislavsky, it’s about me appearing before the audience believing what I’m saying to be true.”

But he admits that’s not always easy.

“I’d be lying if I could buy into Bin Laden’s story all the way to the end every night.

“There’s a point, and it’s a different point every night, where my empathy is stretched too far.

The play is set in this moment. Does this mean Bin Laden is speaking to us from the grave?

“In some senses, yes,” he says, smiling. “It’s almost like the ghost of Bin Laden coming into the room.

“But it also imagines Bin Laden was never killed. It’s as if he’s touring the world, in the way that Barack Obama and Tony Blair do now.”

He adds, grinning; “If Bin Laden were going to give a Ted Talk, this is how it would sound.”

Bin Laden: The One Man Show, The Tron Theatre, until Friday.