Power of Pop Media

TOT Mom would be a fascinating courtroom drama, except that the case hasn't even come to trial yet.

Steven Soderbergh's fast-paced, intense production for the Sydney Theater Company, is based on the controversial, scarcely believable media Inquisition of Florida mother Casey Anthony, 23, Whose three-year-old daughter, Caylee, disappeared under confusing circumstances, and who was eventually charged with her murder.

The stage is dominated by huge screens are groomed Which appears the image of the TV lawyer Nancy Grace, Superbly played by Essie Davis. In a highly combative and, on the evidence here (and it is all her own words), manipulative style, Grace used her legal program on Thurs popularis and prosecute the case.

The facts are everybody's obsession but they are almost Impossible to Determine in the storm of aggression, speculation and uninformed opinion that swirls around the protagonists.

There is a great deal of savage Irony in the way this deadline-driven quest for the truth is presented. For Australian audiences, there are echoes of the Lindy Chamberlain case, but it is fascinating to follow a story that is all but unknown here.

The show is verbatim documentary - based on transcripts of the program, the evidence in the indictment hearings and other public sources.

Grace Davis's harangues and cajoles the gaggle of lawyers, experts and talkback callers who want to own this terrible story. These are played by an excellent cast.

This production is an extraordinary reflection on the power of television Thurs mold public emotion And to construct a conclusion even before the proceedings have begun.

The only figures who do not appear, except occasionally as voice-overs Thurs projected texts, are the family and, of course, there is not even a voice-over for little Caylee.