Nottingham Theatre Royal – until Saturday 16 March 2025
Reviewed by Louise Ford
3***
What lies beneath the veneer?
This week’s offering at the Theatre Royal is by the successful thriller writer, Peter James.
This is the seventh of James’ novels to be adapted (stage adaptor Shaun McKenna) for the stage, and features his most successful detective Roy Grace (George Rainsford). In this adaptation the detective and his side kick Bella (Gemma Saroyan) are secondary to the main story. They play their roles in a solid enough fashion and are times slightly Columboesque, clad in raincoats and of course the iconic line “just one more question “, guaranteed to wrong foot the suspect!
The main story has two main threads which twist and turn through the play. The two stories are brilliantly portrayed with a split stage design ( Designer Adrian Linford). On one side we have the artist’s studio of Dave Hegarty (Peter Ash); on the other the apartment of the Kiplings (Fiona Wade and Ben Cutler)(no relation to Rudyard or cakes); the overlap of these two is the Manor House of Mr Piper(Nicholas Maude). The police procedural action takes place, on the whole, at the front of the stage without any props or scenery. This inspired set design means that there is minimal set or prop movement which allows the action and the story to move seamlessly.
Having said that there are very few prop changes there is one item that does a lot of travelling around the stage and this is the “picture” which is central to the story!
Having set the scene of the artist studio and the apartment we are introduced to the main characters. The Kiplings, a hardworking couple (he’s a builder with a soft centre) and she has dreams of being a jewellery designer. The Kiplings are counting their pennies and are kitting out their home with bargains from car boots. Their latest acquisition is a chair with a mind of its own and an ugly picture that they’ve bought for £20, as they like the frame. Harry decides to dismantle the picture and suspects that there is a picture hidden underneath. They cannot decide on the best way to do this so they contact an old customer Dave Heagarty. He’s only too willing to help. He offers his professional advice and is willing to take a look at the unveiled picture. Is he being helpful because Harry went that extra mile when carrying out the building work or is there a more sinister motive? Is he really a forger with a heart of gold? The clues are all around Heagarty’s studio.
Dave Heagarty is based on the copyist David Henry who Peter James met in 2015. In this production the role is played with energy and skill by Peter Ash.
There’s a vignette of the Kiplings taking the uncovered picture to the Antiques Roadshow. The role of the expert Oliver De Souza is nicely played by Adam Morris, all cravat and shiny loafers.
Running alongside the story of the painting is the opening of a twenty year old “cold case” the murder of a shady art dealer. Talking of shady characters, there’s the dubious art collector and dealer Stuart Piper, who’s played as a camp pantomime villain with great relish by Nicholas Maude. It’s nice to see the role of the henchman played by a woman. Jodie Steele plays Piper’s expert fixer with thuggish relish.
The production is nicely paced, suspenseful and at times surprisingly funny and camp. However I think on balance that the detective drama somehow got lost in the story and at times the dialogue was a little stilted.