The year is 1628 and for the past 19 years the people of Bamberg in Germany have been terrorised and condemned by the infamous witch trials, overseen by the fanatical and sadistic commissioner, Ernst Vasolt ( a sinister performance by Duncan Ley). By Vasolt’s decree all but one escapee have been tried, condemned, tortured and put to death at the stake in God’s name.

Profoundly disturbing, intense in its gruelling indictment of man’s inhumanity to man and the invidious power of the zealot, Ley’s play The Burning ignites a furious flame of religious mania and manic obsession. Young lawyer Francis Schiller, performed with extraordinary maturity and talent by Jack Parker, learns of the arrest of his pregnant wife, Madeline Couillart (Amy Dunham) on the charge of witchcraft. He pleads with his father, Bishop Philip Schiller (Jarrad West) to argue on his behalf for her release. Vasolt’s son Frederick (Will Huang), rejected by Madeline, seeks revenge and Francis, too, is accused of heresy and brought to trial.

Ley’s The Burning is a powerful study of male relationships and behaviour. Unlike Arthur Miller’s exploration of the role of women in Salem to accuse and condemn, in Bamberg it is the men who wield the might and the right to pass judgment. Ley’s concern is with the male relationship between father and son, between the accuser and the accused, between the rational and the irrational in a male-controlled society.

“We live in dark times” Vasolt proclaims, and yet this is also the age of Enlightenment as Francis observes. What is most chilling in this production is the inescapable comparison with our own time. Ley reminds us that the constancy of human nature and its conflicting paradigms of good and evil, is the universal cross that humanity has borne throughout the ages. In riveting courtroom scenes we stand witness to prejudice and fear, hatred and vanity, “the first sign of a fanatic”.

“You can’t fight faith with reason” proclaims the fanatical Vasolt. In Ley’s play of ideas that challenges our notions of reason, civilisation, loyalty and justice, it is difficult not to contemplate the sorry state of conflict in those parts of the world where fanaticism and faith tear away the fabric of a civilised society. In the hands of an excellent cast, and directed with assurance and understanding by Duncan Driver for Everyman Theatre, The Burning will prod your sense of right and wrong. Underscored by Tim Hansen’s haunting, evocative and chilling composition, The Burning commands attention, demands judgment and compels an audience to probe the very heart of human nature. In 2014, it would appear that the lessons of 1628 have still not been fully learnt.

The Burning challenges you to listen, think and consider, rationally and with empathy and understanding. it is provocative, gripping and confronting,