Don’t be put off by the title of Knaive Theatre’s provocative portrayal of Osama bin Laden. There is no gratuitous violence, no graphic imagery, no terrifying re-enactment of terrorist acts, depicting death and destruction. These are referred to as actor Sam Redway traces bin Laden’s “flight for freedom” from peace-loving worshipper of Islam to America’s most wanted terrorist and architect of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre.

Paradox and contradiction link arms with irony in a performance that is part motivational address, part history lecture and part flashes of gripping theatre as Redway’s bin Laden rises to the call of the Jihad. From the moment the audience enters, Redway and director and writer Tyrell Jones conceive a clever ruse to perplex and provoke response.

Members of the audience are offered cups of tea and biscuits by a barefoot Redway to the innocuous sounds of Let’s Go Fly A Kite from Mary Poppins. Isn’t this a show about Bin Laden?

Why such a British tradition? Smiling, Redway launches into a Q and A with the bemused audience.

“Who is dissatisfied with government?” “Who cares about the world you will leave your children, real and metaphorical?” The responses are instantaneous. The audience is an immediate participant in the drama, eager for their voices to be heard, to be liberated from their silence.

“I am Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Aboud Laden al Quatani and tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to show you how to change the world.”

What follows is an engrossing account of the thoughts and deeds that inspired and actioned his war on injustice and betrayal. With butcher's paper and texta, bin Laden describes the six steps that must be taken to seek freedom, from finding motivation in the words of his mentor and university professor, Abdullah Yussuf Azzam, to the ultimate act of retribution on the Twin Towers.

Each step is accompanied by an account of the events from the Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution in Iran to the civil war in Afghanistan, the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and the interference by the United States and Russia in the Middle East and Somalia.

Villain or victim? Prophet of his people or Angel of Vengeance? A man of faith or a murderer of men? Knaive Theatre is the theatre of compelling debate. It is the tabernacle of ideas, it is the round table of hypothesis. Bin Laden The One Man Show is an experience that distorts complacency, challenges the intellect and touches the heart.

After a short break, the audience is invited to return for a Q and A to express their perspectives and converse with the director and writer. Bin Laden The One Man Show is no plea for empathy, though that may come for some.

It is a challenge to confront the circumstances that made a man who prayed for a better world for his son resort to such terrible violence. It is a complex and convoluted debate that demands to be held. This is theatre that matters. Don’t miss it!