Richmond Theatre – until 24 February 2018. Reviewed by Jessica Brady
3***
The beautiful Richmond Theatre plays host on the national tour of Strangers on a Train a classic 1950’s novel written by Patricia Highsmith and adapted for stage by Craig Warner.
The story follows two men who meet on a train and it takes a turn that will change both their lives forever. Charles Bruno ( Chris Harper ) strikes up a deal with Guy Haines ( Jack Ashton ) over several drinks as drinking is one of Charles’ favourite pastimes and with a clink of a glass the fate of two unsuspecting individuals are sealed whether Guy likes it or not.
Charles and his father have never seen eye to eye and after many drinks, Charles comes up with the idea of a killing pact. Charles would kill Guy’s cheating wife and Guy would kill Charles’ father! Foolproof plan. Guy obviously doesn’t think this is a serious plan and carries on with his own life putting the whole experience down to the ramblings of a drunk making conversation.
What transpires is the over indulgent Charles follows through with his side of the deal killing the wife of Guy and continues to hounds poor Guy to absolute distraction till he carries out his part in killing Charles father. He worm’s his way fully into his life including meeting his new wife Anne ( Hannah Tointon ) at the wedding never giving Guy a chance at normality.
Private investigator and family friend of Charles , Arthur Gerard (John Middleton) makes it his mission to get to the bottom of the murder and there are devastating consequences.
All the cast do a decent job of telling the story, some better than others but the standout is by far is Chris Harper playing the manic and manipulative Charles with truth and a whole colour of emotions and despite playing the villain type gave us a lot of light and shade with his portrayal and giving it all that the character needed.
There were a few times when I wondered why certain decisions had been made with the direction and there were a few occasions where the acting was on one note the entire time, not really allowing us to get to the authenticity of the characters on stage but overall it did the job.
The set of this show was a real spectacle with the use of interchangeable sets all with in an American flag. A clever idea but sadly very distracting as it was so clunky and noisy backstage !
With a handful of well known TV stars, the play had all the set up to be a wonderful performance but it didn’t quite hit the mark, however it was a great story with lots of twists and turns and worth a watch if your into that genre!