Alessandro Gassmann directs The State vs Nolan (A Quiet Place), an intense stage drama by Stefano Massini that explores the relationship between the media, power and public responsibility through the gripping structure of a court trial.

In a small provincial town in the early 1960s, a trial is held against the owner of the local newspaper, Herbert Nolan. He is accused of manipulating the news for personal gain. The killing of a vagrant mistaken for a robber or rapist had been sensationalised to create widespread fear throughout the county, so that the inhabitants would arm themselves to defend their homes. The local arms factory had seen its profits soar. “What’s so strange about that?” asks Nolan’s lawyer. Since the dawn of time, newspapers have had to make headlines. Except that the newspaper’s owner was a major shareholder in the arms company. And so the prosecution, represented by a very shrewd man, the prosecutor Miles, seeks to hold Nolan to account. The trial unfolds in the traditional manner, with cross-examinations of the defendant and witnesses. But beyond the specific conflict of interest, the theme of an artificially fuelled climate of fear emerges.