Theatre Royal, Nottingham – until 24th January 2026
Reviewed by Chris Jarvis
3***
I was looking forward to seeing this play adapted from the 1992 film ‘Single White Female’ that had only recently come to my attention when a friend mentioned it as one of her favourite films of all time. She reminisced about a ‘90s hairstyle that she’d asked her hairdresser to copy. Intrigued, I watched the film and found it to be thrilling, with tension building as the story developed and some horrifying scenes.
This production is advertised as an adaptation of the film by Rebecca Reid. The film was set in America in an apartment of an old Neo-Gothic building with loads of character including a cranky old lift with a sliding collapsible gate familiar to old American films. I was surprised last night to see the set in a modern tower block of shoddily built flats near Elephant & Castle, London. A very English Lisa Faulkner who plays Allie, is unpacking her possessions with the help of her business partner Graham (Andro).
We learn that Allie is divorced from her husband Sam (Jonny McGarrity) due to his previous addictions and following an affair with a girl he met in rehab who is about to become his wife. Sam arrives to collect his 15-year-old daughter, Bella (Amy Snudden) and to inform Allie that he will be cutting Bella’s child support by half due to his new wife having his baby. Struggling to establish a new business Allie is barely keeping up with living expenses, so along with Graham decides to rent out her third bedroom. An advert – ‘Single White Female’ – is placed online with an immediate response from Hedy (Kym Marsh) who moves in. Her reasons for doing so develop and Hedy plays off each character against each other as in the film, though on stage her scheming seemed more obvious and maybe not so chilling.
The use of lighting and darkness added to the thrill, and I felt the strip lights surrounding the stage helped create atmosphere. The acting was excellent with each actor well cast and believable in their roles, particularly Amy Snudden who gave a brilliant performance. Bella didn’t exist in the film, but was the focus of Hedy’s plan in this play, so the adaptation did realise Rebecca Reid’s aim to keep some key elements while reimagining the story and bringing it into the era of mobile phones, social media and internet bullying. I felt it raised similar issues to the award-winning TV series Adolescence!
In many ways I wished I hadn’t already seen the film as despite really enjoying the first hour of the play, I couldn’t stop comparing it with the film. The iconic scenes in the film, particularly those high heels (!!), were left partly to the imagination which was chilling and frightening. On stage, these same scenes were played out in front of us and reminded me of a Brian Rix farce rather than a psychological thriller. I presumably wasn’t the only person thinking this as the second half unexpectedly had the audience laughing as each major event took place!
An enjoyable night and the audience reaction seemed positive.