In 'Not in my Name', Michael McEvoy presents the  character of Niccolo Machiavelli trapped in a trial he does  not fully understand. It is fascinating to witness his  growing realisation of the future - or rather the past - as  he slowly discovers where and, significantly, when we are,  and what he is being held accountable for.

 "Whoever you are," he says to the audience,  "and wherever this is, it seems that we are gathered here today because you require my testimony." His  testimony, however, lasts one hour and fifteen minutes  which is a very long time for a one man show. At times, it  is more of an animated history lesson than a play. The  different characters in Machiavelli's story are not  painted with enough physical distinction, and the show is  too long to sustain constant interest without theatrical variety.

 McEvoy enters as a touchingly human old man, lost, confused  and possibly even dead. This, and his subsequent detailed account of the early years and influences in  Machiavelli's life certainly upend the expectations of  an evil duplicitous 'Machiavellian' figure. What  emerges instead is a man who understood politics and power,  and whose successes and sufferings happened because of this.

Rather than inventing tyranny, he argues, he studied power.  This Machiavelli is outraged by the atrocities which are  constantly perpetrated in his name, as if there were a  direct line connecting him to all the tyrants of history.  He eventually turns his own apparent trial around by  forcing the audience to stand accountable for failing to  act against these atrocities.  It is a point worth making, but McEvoy labours it. It is  enough to lead a horse to water. By forcing the audience to  drink in his somewhat heavy-handed conclusion, McEvoy weakens his own argument.