Dial M For Murder - Review - People's Theatre

Dial M For Murder
People's Theatre
21st Jan 2020

To launch the new season the People's Theatre have swapped their usual post Christmas Agatha Christie for the equally suspenseful Dial M For Murder by Frederick Knott.
Tony Wendice married his wife Margot for her money. Margot, having belatedly discovered that marriage to a tennis superstar is not all she had dreamed it would be, has an affair with crime writer Max. When Tony discovers the affair he plots the perfect murder - gaining his freedom from a loveless marriage but keeping Margot's money.

In Frederick Knott's play the audience are in on the plot almost from the start. We learn straight away about the short-lived affair. And we know that Margot believes her husband knows nothing about it. We learn that she has gone to great pains to ensure that he did not find out - even so far as paying money to a blackmailer. But so many things don't seem to add up. Is everything quite as the audience is being led to believe - or is there more to this tale? Tony Wendice is a man used to having his own way. And he is a man used to paying whatever it takes for something he wants. He is single-minded, dangerous, calculating, and observant - perhaps obsessively so.

This suspense is played out entirely in the living room of the Wendice's ground floor flat in London. A simple set - sofa, desk, drinks cabinet...three doors - one to the bedroom and kitchen, one to the hall and stairs, and French windows to the garden. all three doors will play an important roll in the development of the plot. The lighting is sinister and dramatic and used to great effect with blood red backlighting from the hall casts shadows across as characters enter and leave the flat. Adding to the atmosphere is the quietly malevolent score, specially commissioned, by James Jones.

The characters are all very different, Alison Carr plays Margot, the dutiful wife who is clearly intimidated by her husband, yet we see a lighter, more carefree side to her character when she is with Max. Sean Burnside is chilling in the role of Tony Wendice, switching from affable host to scheming murderer in the flick of a red spotlight switch. Robbie Close is the cheerful, but lovelorn Max Halliday, who appears easy going but has the presence of mind to see through Tony and is loyal to Margot to the end. I couldn't help but feel she didn't quite deserve him!
Tony Sehgal plays Lesgate (or Swan, or is it Wilson?), the hapless opportunist ex-con, who falls victim - in more ways than one - to Wendice's plotting. And finally there is Inspector Hubbard. The down to earth detective who unravels the mystery. Brilliantly cast in the role, Emma Weetch bring a touch of humour like a breath of fresh air, puncturing the tension -  imagine a female Columbo, with more style and a London accent and you just about have her. As much as the music and lighting created the atmosphere and ramped up the suspense, she burst it and brought us back down to earth. She was the star of the show for me.

Dial M for Murder is a well directed, well staged production and a great start to the Spring season!
It plays until Saturday 25th January.

Denise Sparrowhawk

Review - My Cousin Rachel - Royalty Theatre

My Cousin Rachel
Royalty Theatre
29th Oct 2018


Written by Diana Morgan 
Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier


My Cousin Rachel is a tale of suspense and murder. Philip Ashley has travelled to Italy after he receives the news that his cousin Ambrose is seriously ill. He receives a number of letters that cast suspicion on Ambrose's new wife. When Philip arrives in Italy he discovers Ambrose has died and the funeral has already taken place. The new wife, Rachel, has disappeared.

The play opens as Philip returns to his home in Cornwall and has to recount the strange situation to his guardian Nicholas Kendall. While they wait for Philip, Nicholas and his daughter Louise discuss the sudden and surprising marriage between Ambrose and Rachel. Louise is sure that Rachel must be extraordinary and beautiful, since she managed to capture the heart of confirmed bachelor Ambrose Ashley. 
Philip is convinced that the letters he received from Ambrose prove that his death is suspicious and that Rachel and her Italian friend Rainaldi are involved. Why else should she have left so suddenly after the funeral? 

James Errington acquits himself well as the young Philip Ashley, seduced by the beauty of his older cousin Rachel, yet suspicious of her involvement in Ambrose's death. His performance gathers strength as the conflict pushes him to a kind of madness.  Olivia Bowern is rather aloof as the grieving widow making the character difficult to read - which perhaps was the intention of the director. The play hinges on the doubt surrounding her - is she a cold blooded murderer or simply an unfortunate, misunderstood widow?

The outstanding performance of the evening goes to Stephanie Cubello whose playful portrayal of Louise Kendall provides the most engaging and convincing character in the play.

The drama and suspense is heightened throughout the play by an excellent choice of background music and very slick lighting.

The play has been likened to an Agatha Christie suspense - and the ingredients are there. A suspicious death, strange letters, a widow left with nothing, a naïve young man just ripe for manipulation by a beautiful, older woman and a small country village rife with rumour.

I'm sure Du Maurier's novel conveys all the expected tension and suspense, but for me it somehow doesn't translate into this stage adaptation by Diana Morgan. A lot of scene setting and background information has to be given through the dialogue and it lacked the flare and finesse of a Christie play, though it does have a killer twist at the end. 

The audience this evening however was fully engaged and displayed appropriate amounts of surprise, shock and awe throughout - most notably when Philip, in a fit of rage, throws a candlestick which bounces back with some force! (I'd like to see more of this sort of passion from the actors - after all two of the characters are Italian!) 

My Cousin Rachel plays until 3rdNovember. It has some excellent dramatic moments and some strong performances and it will keep you guessing - till the end. 

Denise Sparrowhawk

The Blue Electric Wind - People's Theatre - Review

The Blue Electric Wind

People's Theatre
22nd Feb 2018

The Blue Electric Wind is a new play written by Brad Birch. It was commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department to be a piece specifically aimed at young performers. It is a play "about memory, bravery and growing up."

A group of school children notice strange things happening to people in their town, memories begin to fade people forget little things at first, then bif things, then the people fade away themselves - they become blank. And they don't realise it's happening to them. It's left to a group of teenagers to try to solve the problem before it is too late and everyone fades away.

But these teenagers are not friends - they are from different peer groups and don't really like each other. They'll have to learn to trust each other, forgive each other, and find a way to work together or all will be lost.

Beneath the stark and eerie set of wires and strange flickering lights, this group of young actors recreate the banter and bickering of teenagers, the joking, the bragging, and the awkwardness.

They each hold their own on stage, deliver their lines with confidence and skill. If there are a couple of missed cues or stumbles they are covered with expert ease so barely noticeable. Some adults

lack such skill. There are some long and complicated speeches for some of the characters - there's quite a bit of technical sounding science stuff and some amusing nerdy science fiction stuff. I can't tell you more about that - you'll have to go see it on Saturday to find out.

Assured performances in an interesting and intriguing play.

The Blue Electric Wind plays until Saturday 24th Feb.   

Photo Credit Paula Smart

Denise Sparrowhawk

Go Back For Murder - Review - People's Theatre

Go Back for Murder
People's Theatre
16th Jan 2018

There's nothing like a bit of murder and suspicion to start the year off and The People's Theatre have it down to a fine art with the annual Agatha Christie mystery. This year they have chosen Go Back to Murder - in which the crime has been committed, and the suspect tried and sentenced 16 years earlier. But has the right person been convicted?

Carla le Marchant (Ri McArdle)  receives a letter on her 21st birthday, written by her mother just before she died. In the letter her mother Caroline Crale professes her innocence of the crime of which she was convicted. She did not murder Carla's father Amyas Crale. The contents of the letter are a shock to Carla and to her fiancé. His reaction - magnanimous, but perhaps insincere - prompts her to begin an investigation to prove her mother's innocence.

And so she meets with the six people who were there at the time of her father's death to try to piece together what happened, and solve the puzzle of her father's death and her mother's conviction. As she speaks to each one begins to piece together an impression of her parents' relationship with each other and their friends. Like a patchwork quilt, there are many threads and many little pieces that come together to make something.  Carla becomes more and more convinced of her mother's innocence and we, the audience, begin to see that the six people involved each had a motive for murder. But who had the opportunity, and why if she was not the guilty party did Caroline not put up more of  a fight in court?

This is a rather sedentary play, since there is no dramatic murder on stage, it relies on dialogue rather than action to progress the story. But there is also passion, jealousy, betrayal, love and loyalty played out within the words. A simple split set and clever spotlighting create atmosphere and build suspense.

The characters are diverse, and each one is played convincingly. Stand out performances for me come from Catherine Ellis as Angela Matthews, convincing as both the rebellious 14year old and the older, more cynical adult; Karen Elliot as the formidable Miss Williams and Gordon Mounsey as the rather prickly and supercilious Philip Blake.

By the end of Act One I had a good idea of who the true murderer might be...in Act Two I began to doubt. In true Christie style the finger of suspicion points at everyone as the play progresses - it seems I had fallen for one of the many red herrings! A testament to Christie's skill as a writer, and to the direction of Philip Bradley, we are misdirected and kept guessing to the very end.

Go Back for Murder plays until Sat 20th. Go see if you can do better than I did at solving the puzzle. I bet you can't!

Denise Sparrowhawk

And Then There Were None - Review - Royalty Theatre

And Then There Were None

Royalty Theatre 
19th September 2017

The stage is set for Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" - as the house lights dim, the stage lights come up to reveal a drawing room, the furniture covered in dust sheets, curtains drawn across French windows. Two servants enter and begin to remove the sheets - Mr and Mrs Rogers (Lee Wilkins and Emma McLeary) are preparing for the arrival of house guests, they reveal that the hosts have been detained and that the first of the guests are due to arrive.
Fred Narracot (Ben Gettins), the local boatman, has delivered the supplies and is sent off to bring the guests across by boat. The house - Soldier House - is set on an island accessible only by boat, and with no telephone or other means of communication with the outside world. Eight guests are expected, they are all strangers to each other, their only connection that they have been invited to stay at the house by the hosts Mr and Mrs Owen, and that  each one has a secret from their past, a secret they would rather no-one else knew about. These secrets will have dire consequences for each guest and the Rogers.

Act One introduces the characters one by one, the glamorous Vera Claythorne (Helen Bowie) and the suave Philp Lombard (James Errington) arriving together, followed by the spoiled rich boy Anthony Marstsen (David Ford), the South African millionaire Mr Davis, alias William Blore, ex policeman (John Appleton), the eccentric General McKenzie (David Armstrong), self righteous Emily Brent (Christine Appleton), the superior Judge Lawrence Wargrave, and the very nervy Dr Armstrong (Chris Renney). They are a disparate group in both social standing and character, with no obvious connection and seemingly no idea why they have been brought together on the island. Each one has a different story as to how they were invited. As the act progresses their characters are revealed leading to the surprising climax of the act - an anonymous recording revealing each ones' secret, the accusations against them, and the death of the first victim. As the characters realise that one of the soldiers on the mantel is missing the lights go down silhouetting them against the windows of the drawing room, and the curtain falls on Act One. It is a dramatic end to the Act.

In Act Two the bodies begin to pile up as characters drop like flies. Suspicions rise, accusations fly and tempers flare as the horror of their situation dawns and one by one the characters fall.

The tension and suspense are nicely done. Seeming friendships and alliances are formed and lost as suspicion grows. Outbursts of anger and frustration hint at who the killer might be - perhaps Mr Rogers or Vera Claythorne? Or perhaps Dr Armstrong or Philip Lombard? Everyone is a suspect. The only certainty is that those who have already died cannot be the murderer.  Or can they?

There are some strong performances - particularly by Lee Wilkins, Helen Bowie, James Errington and Andrew Barella, though to be fair everyone in the cast gives a decent performance. Dramatic and timely use of sound and lighting enhance the tension throughout. The stage set is uncluttered and the costumes pleasingly understated (apart from the swaggering Philip Lombard - that blue suit is a killer!).  Billy Towers and Abbi Laidler direct with a deceptively light touch.

A solid opening for the Royalty's new season. If you have not read the book, this will keep you guessing - if not whodunit, then why and how?
And Then There Were None runs until Sat 23rd Sept.
Denise Sparrowhawk