Yet "Away," without a trace of sappiness, finally lets its unforgiving world deliver redemption and grace.
Its pessimism and humanity mushroom long after a final act that slaps out three scenes of increasing unease, then refuses to deliver redemption, even after self-realisation.
Beneath the gaze of Christ the Redeemer the Games itself, sullied by those supposed to be nurturing it, will rely on those athletes who embody its lofty ideals to deliver redemption.
For Jews, the Messiah will come to deliver redemption in some eschatological (end of time) event but not necessarily in terms of exclusive salvation for Jews for those outside the faith need to observe seven simple Noachide Laws to stay on the straight and narrow.
Even more irksome is the way the main function of the story's autistic character, played by Dustin Hoffman, is to serve as a vehicle for delivering redemption – and, due to aptitude at card counting, a big bag of blackjack money to Tom Cruise as his shallow, car-dealer brother.
The play thereby refuses to deliver redemption and instead leaves its viewers with a religious craving for justice.
It describes his journey from a violent, criminal youth to the degradation, shame and remorse he experienced in Scotland's most draconian prisons – and the redemption eventually delivered by literature and art in the special unit at Barlinnie.
And if that feeling of redemption is delivered to someone early enough, it can affect how a released offender approaches the challenges that remain ahead of him.
Even at its worst, however, it can deliver a bitter redemption.
Hence the mantra that the Narrator recites to himself on the way to spiritual redemption: "Deliver me from Swedish furniture.
