STRICTLY MURDER To 29 August.
Nottingham
STRICTLY MURDER
by Brian Clemens.
Theatre Royal To 29 August 2009.
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Sat 8pm Mat Wed 2pm Sat 5pm.
Runs 2hr One interval.
TICKETS: 0115 989 5555.
www.royalcentre-nottingham.co.uk.
Review: Alan Geary: 24 August 2009.
A rural French farmhouse in 1939 – buffs of the period will love it.
This week’s offering in Colin McIntyre’s Thriller Season isn’t your quintessential Francis Durbridge; in fact it isn’t Durbridge in any way at all. Instead it’s a highly entertaining thriller from Brian The Avengers Clemens. We still get that well-loved sofa centre stage but not the upstage-right drinks cabinet. And as a change from the Home Counties or the West End we’re in a rural French farmhouse in 1939, in the months leading up to the Second World War. Buffs of the period will love it.
You’re wondering who, if anyone, might be a German spy. Not only that; you’re also wondering who the mysterious Josef (Adrian Lloyd-James) is, and why Ross (John Hester, always good in snoopy Inspector type parts) seems to present himself at the farmhouse door not once but twice.
Two additional, albeit minor, questions occur. Why does no-one smoke - it is after all the thirties? And why, in thrillers, do they always roll stiffs in carpets - surely, it makes disposal of the body harder not easier?
The pervading uncertainty and unease is helped along by the background sound. Besides some very effective Dutch film music and extracts from “We’re Gonna Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line”, it includes soundtrack from a couple of Hitler’s speeches - after seven decades they still curdle the blood. And there’s the evocative “They Call Me Naughty Lola” in German.
Performances are good. Samuel Clemens, son of the playwright, is subtle and ambiguous as artist Peter Meredith. His would-be wife Suzy is played by Jo Castleton. It’s not a frock part this week, although she looks as fetching as ever; instead she plays a pregnant woman very realistically. Karen Henson, in hat and tailored costume, is a practical woman without tipping over into jolly hockey-sticks country. She and Hester bring a touch of humour to the evening.
The farmhouse set, complete with running water, a cooking range and a big thirties type wireless, is wonderful; it makes you want to jump up on stage and go and live in it.
Josef: Adrian Lloyd-James.
Peter Meredith: Samuel Clemens.
Suzy Hinchcliffe: Jo Castleton.
Ross: John Hester.
Miriam Miller: Karen Henson.
Director: Patric Kearns.
Designer: Geoff Gilder.
Lighting: Michael Donohugh.
Sound: Patric Kearns.
2009-08-27 12:01:26