Grand Theatre, Leeds. Monday 4th to Saturday 9th July 2016
Rehearsal For Murder arrives at Leeds Grand this week. This is Bill Kenwright’s latest creation – The Classic Thriller Theatre Company having had a fantastic 10-year success with the The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, which sold over two million tickets. If this is a sign of things to come from The Classic Thriller Theatre Company then Rehearsal For Murder is an exciting start.
A play within a play, playwright Alex Dennison (Alex Fearns) is left heartbroken when his fiancée and leading lady Monica Welles (Susie Amy) is found dead from an apparent suicide after the opening night of her stage debut.
With an effective, simple single set throughout the play and carefully created flashbacks to a murder believed to be a suicide a year ago to the day when the characters reunite, it keeps you on the edge of your seat.
This production is a gentle and enjoyable twist on the traditional murder mystery format. The clues are laid out in a beautifully subtle way that become obvious with the power of hindsight, but at the time can be easily missed.
Written by the team behind Murder She Wrote, Richard Levinson and William Link and directed Roy Marsden who played PD James’ Inspector Dalgliesh for 14 years – this has whodunit royalty at the helm
Fearns carries the play magnificently. He is excellent as the heartbroken fiance, his anger pretty much contained as he raises suspicions and tries to convince everyone a murder had been committed.
The fateful night is played very cleverly in flashback, before the cast (Gary Mavers, Anita Harris, Mark Wynter, Lauren Drummond and Ben Nealon) run through their scenes, each one supposedly flushing out a motive for the murder.
Fearns and Amy, as Alex and Monica, perform a spectacular diversion from current day to flashbacks to a year ago.
Audiences love a good thriller, and Kenwright knows how to deliver.
It will keep you intrigued and guessing to the end.