Festival Theatre, Malvern – until 11th October 2025
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
5*****
A sequel of sorts to Murder In The Dark (which I thoroughly enjoyed), I was very much looking forward to seeing this play, written again by Torben Betts. My anticipation only wetted further as (before “curtain up”) we sat looking at the set, which was obviously a crime scene – blood on the curtains, weapons strewn across the stage and little numbers dotted around. Inventive design from designer Colin Falconer, with almost all the areas (bedroom, den, living room, outside, patio area) shown at the same time. Although this may sound rather static, the dialogue keeps it anything but – as several scenes in these different areas can (and do) unfold all at the same time.
The story concerns an undercover police officer infiltrating a crime lords house to try to crack a historic unsolved case. Unfortunately, he picks the wrong night for such an escapade since various threads, lives and deaths intersect at the same time…
Jonny “Cyclops” Drinkwater (Jason Durr), crime boss at large and chief suspect for potentially killing his wife, was deliciously maniacal – especially that laugh and the mannered way that Jason kept things calm yet simmering, which was even more menacing. Like a contained explosion, this was a powerful performance.
Susie Blake was really enjoying herself playing the unhinged patriarch, Shirley. A totally nuts performance in the best possible way – she’s a fine actress on top form. At the other end of the acting spectrum was newcomer to the UK stage Iryna Poplavska (playing Cristina) who did a marvelous job as someone frequently held together only by the taught threads of panic.
The rest of the cast; Lisa (Katie McGlynn), Russell (Callum Balmforth), Trainwreck (Peter Moreton), Paul (Max Bowden) went from distress and hopelessness to empowerment with varying degrees of intelligence and success. A roller coaster ride for all the characters (and audience) as they negotiate the catalogue of human emotions interwoven with a serious of unfortunate misunderstandings.
It’s a fun play with lots of fraught scenes, which are eased by the humour, so it does feel light rather than tense for the most part. This was billed as a dark humorous thriller – I thought a better description might have been a “twisted Halloween farce”; kind of No Sex Please We’re British meets The Krays meets Inside No 9. Lots of humour, some visual but much wittily woven into the script. Then there’s the jumpy moments which produced lots of nervous laughter…
Not so much a whodunnit but, rather, a whogotit (and with what) this fantastic work keeps you guessing right to the end. On a scale of 1 to 10, how highly would I rate this play? I couldn’t possibly say (without giving a spoiler away – but see the show and you will be in on the joke). But as to how many stars I would give it – well that would be a well deserved 5 and a hearty recommendation from me!