Nottingham Theatre Royal – until Saturday 29th August 2026
Reviewed by Louise Ford
3***
The clue’s in the title.
It’s nearly the end of the school holidays, and this week it is the final offering in Colin McIntyre’s Classical Thriller Season 2026, in Nottingham. This season there are only three plays, I’m sure that there are usually four, but maybe I’ve misremembered. As we know, memories are fickle, and people can lie.
The original story was written by Robert Thomas in 1960 and was set in the French Alps. The story was translated, updated, and relocated to a remote holiday cottage in Cornwall by Sean Aita. The promotional literature for the play and the program give us some clues about the central story: memories can be stolen, and identities can be assumed. Just who do you think you are?
The play is set in one room in the cottage, so there are no set changes to distract the audience or slow down the story. The cast is pretty pared back with just five actors on stage. These are the man, Daniel Edwards (Parvan Maru), the Inspector (John Goodrum), Reverend Susan Green (Susan Earnshaw), the woman (Sarah Wynne Kordas), and the visitor (Juliette Strobel).
The story centres around a disappearance. A couple of newlyweds are holidaying in a wet and windy Cornwall when the wife, Lizzie, goes missing. The manhunt is being investigated by Cornwall’s finest, a cross between Colombo and Inspector Barnaby, with a Cornishish accent and a Wycliffe ringtone on his mobile. The Inspector treads a fine line in believing Mr Edwards that his wife has disappeared, and that she simply doesn’t want to be found, and something more sinister. The story unfolds with the comic Reverend Green (very Vicar of Dibley) arriving at the French windows. She’s a fan of the single malt. Reverend Green has had a guest over the last few days who is….drum roll….Lizzie. It looks as though the mystery is solved and we are in for an early bus home. However…second drum roll…Daniel says that the woman is not his wife. So what is going on? Several scenes in, and several repeat visits from the Inspector, it seems as though Mr Edwards is an unreliable witness. The woman answers all of the questions, seems plausible, and what would she have to gain by pretending to be Lizzie?
The story ends with a neat twist, and we can all leave the theatre happy after an enjoyable evening. The cast and the audience really enjoy the thriller mystery summer season, and the good news is, is that they will be back in 2027, so spend the intervening months practising your sleuthing skills.