“DOES she have any idea what she has done?” She is Emma Price — and she is a murderer, writes Claire Borrowdale.

The full impact of what she has done is powerfully explored with great insightfulness in the play, The Long Road, by Shelagh Stephenson, which is being staged by the Sinodun Players at the Corn Exchange, Wallingford, from Wednesday to Saturday, May 25 to 28, at 7.45pm.

The play, which is directed for the Players by Natalie Lester, poses many searching questions about sudden, violent death: the void that is left within the family, struggling to cope with what has happened; the strain it places on the relationships within the family and whether any meaning can be brought to something seemingly so meaningless.

Price’s murder of Danny was impulsive and unpremeditated — the thoughtless reaction of a young girl high on drugs.

She was a stranger, who suddenly arrives within Danny’s family to sit, like the proverbial elephant in the room, overshadowing all of their interactions from the moment of the murder, for the rest of their lives.

The audience is drawn into the struggles of the family to come to terms with events — the differing reactions of Danny’s parents and his brother – the feelings of rage, sorrow and guilt and blame — and the undulating tensions which become apparent.

And behind all of this lie some crucial realisations: not only that Price’s actions have changed everyone’s lives for ever, including her own, but also how fine the line could become which divides normal action from murder.

The Long Road of the title is the road travelled to reach some sort of understanding — and that this may come through the idea of restorative justice. Can meeting and, to some extent, getting to know Price help the family through their “kaleidoscope of rage”?

The idea is that some measure of interaction with Price may help the family to move through their grief. To what extent that is or is not possible is examined throughout the latter stages of the play.

Stephenson’s writing is at times heart-rending but also laced with black humour and at all times a sensitive and beautifully balanced piece, posing thought-provoking questions — some of which the audience must decide on their own answers for.

The Long Road was first performed in London in 2008. However, with 200 deaths and a total of almost 30,000 crimes involving knives last year, the issues surrounding knife crime remain disturbingly topical and relevant today.

Stephenson, in writing the play, undertook a great deal of research with prisoners — and the play has toured many prisons — and also collaborated with The Forgiveness Project, a UK charity which encourages people to explore forgiveness, reconciliation and conflict-resolution with the aim of building “a better future by healing the wounds of the past” by considering alternatives to revenge.

Tickets priced at £8 for the Wednesday performance and £10 for Thursday to Saturday evenings are available from the box office on 01491 825000.