WAR is never out of the headlines, especially at the moment, and its

madness and futility devastates souls as well as bodies. Crossfire, the

new play from Paines Plough, is a horrifying panoramic look at man's

inhumanity to man -- or more important, man's inhumanity to the children

of the human race.

Crossfire is a ''war zone of the imagination'', in which physically

and emotionally crippled children roam, bereft of parents, of sibblings

and of love. It is not a naturalistic piece and contains characters such

as Mother Hen, a mythic figure who shambles down through the centuries

looking for Jerusalem and the murdered children of the Lost Crusade.

The company have won several awards for plays at the festival, notably

the Time Out award when Augustine -- Big Hysteria transferred to London.

Crossfire was written by Catalan-born Michel Azama. This is a British

premiere of his work. It runs at the Traverse Theatre from August

24-September 4.

This is a good company, a good author, and a good cause. It is not one

of the holidays in other people's misery which TV brings us but a

serious attempt at understanding. See it if you can.