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What is it about cross-examination that excites people? Whether it be real-life 'entertainment' such as the O.J. Simpson trial or fictional dramas like Law & Order-serious or soapy, there's something about the adversarial process of the courtroom. The Tricycle Theatre in London's Kilburn has carved an enviable reputation from a higher order of 'court-room' drama-a series of recreations of official public inquiries. In each, artistic director Nicolas Kent and Guardian newspaper columnist Richard Norton-Taylor edit the weeks of hearings into a two-hour show, with the theater arranged to resemble the inquiry-room. The sellout series has tackled inquiries into arms sales to Iraq (Half the Picture), Nazi and Serbian war crimes (Nuremberg and Srebenica) and the murder of black Londoner Stephen Lawrence (The Colour of Justice). Their latest play, Justifying War, turns to Lord Hutton's still-unresolved inquiry into the death of the British weapons expert David Kelly.

Kelly committed suicide in July after his outing as the source for a BBC report that suggested the British government's dossier setting out reasons for war on Iraq was "sexed up". The Hutton Inquiry became a focal point for the public debate about the war itself. The play, says Norton-Taylor, seeks to restore its true focus-"It's mainly about the complicated character of Kelly and his personal tragedy. Was he a victim of his own indiscretions? Or was he bullied by his employers at the Ministry of Defence?"

As a journalist Norton-Taylor knows that every piece of editing can skew the truth. Extracting two hours of transcript from hundreds was a Herculean task. "For my newspaper reports I only get five hundred words to encapsulate five hours," he says. "Here at least there's more time to get some balance."

The actual inquiry was slow, methodical and resolutely undramatic. Was there a temptation to thesp it up? Kent, sitting with his cast in the brightly-lit Tricycle rehearsal rooms, says that was never the intention: "This play is almost a public duty. We have all the evidence, so it's about engaging the public in a debate, allowing them to see it all."

But still, how do you make drama from proceedings which are so concerned with minutiae? "All public inquiries use tiny details to build a bigger picture." says Kent, "Theater usually does the opposite; it starts with a broad canvas and comes in to deal with minutiae. But here it works in reverse, so I ask the actors to be selfless and to look at what they're saying and why they're saying it, but not to do any bravura acting."

To keep the focus on the material, the play omits British Prime Minister Tony Blair's appearance. Kent is adamant that he doesn't want an impressionist act. "The actors must invade the mind of their characters and the body language follows." he says, "And certain things give them away. [Blair's press chief] Alastair Campbell for instance is very exact about where he places everything. That shows you something about his controlling nature."

At least three nights a week the performance will be followed by discussions with the audience, a format which has led to some heated moments in previous shows. The Colour Of Justice, about the Lawrence Inquiry, saw one debate make headlines when Lawrence's mother Doreen became involved in a row with an audience member. Kent expects the combative Campbell, for one, to attend this show, which may make for an explosive evening.

And his presence would lend the show a welcome charge which in some ways it badly needs. As a piece of theatre, Justifying War is somewhat stymied by the nature of the event. Court proceedings make popular drama when they are predatory, or at least have a definite emotional focus (as was the case in the Lawrence play, where racist policemen were clearly identifiable and the victims similarly obvious). Heroes and villains are less easy to define here and, on opening night, the methodical plod of specialist witnesses became just a touch monotonous, especially in the second half.

The great exceptions to this were David Michaels' enjoyably arrogant Alastair Campbell and Roland Oliver's phlegmatic Andrew Mackinlay (the M.P. who had given Kelly a grilling in earlier hearings). Here, especially in Oliver's impassioned plea for the sanctity of Parliament, a refreshing sense of personality broke through. And in the show's climax-the evidence given over loudspeakers by Sally Giles' Janice Kelly about her husband's disintegration and suicide-the impact of public actions on private ego was made agonisingly clear.

The subdued but thought-provoking evening then was truly let off the leash in the discussion which followed. Alan Rusbridger, Guardian editor, Norton-Taylor and Conservative M.P. Richard Shepherd took questions from the audience. The event's true culmination was when Shepherd gloomily admitted that Parliament truly "has no power" to uncover secrets the government wants buried. It will go to a vote, and the majority party will win. But in his opinion the public, who can change things, are lethargic and ill-informed. At a time when public political meetings are almost extinct, and political theater a fast-dwindling genre, there's little doubt that the Tricycle's efforts stir an important debate. Great theater? Not in this case. But that doesn't make it less worthwhile.

• JAMES INVERNE
• Hutton is brought to life on stage