Nottingham Theatre Royal – until Saturday 24 August 2024
Reviewed by Louise Ford
4****
Be careful who you trust!
The penultimate offering in this summer’s Colin Mcintyre’s Classic Thriller Series is Veronica’s Room by Ira Levin. Talking to Lucy (marketing and publicity for the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall) she asked if I knew the story. I had to confess that I didn’t. She said that they had decided to give the performance a 15 rating. This was intriguing as the shows in the thriller series are, whilst not light weight, usually good wholesome murders and thrillers, ideal summertime watching! Further intrigue is the cast list in the program. The characters are The Woman (Susan Earnshaw), The Man (Jeremy Lloyd Thomas), The Girl (Hannah Blaikie) and The Boy (David Osmond), so no names! The play is in two acts, Susan and Veronica, so perhaps a bit of a clue? However I’m not going to go into any details about the play for fear of spoiling the enjoyment and tension of the story.
However for anyone not familiar with the works of Ira Levin, he has written some intriguing and notorious novels and plays, Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives amongst many others.
The action all takes place in one room, Veronica’s room (set design by John Goodrum). Initially the space is dark and all of the furniture shrouded in dust sheets. The light and furniture are unveiled and the story unfolds. It’s a spring evening in 1973, in Boston USA,
The four actors are each given good strong roles or personas which requires them to change clothes and accents. This is done seamlessly and effortlessly. The story is perhaps a bit slow paced in the first act. However this is the art of a good psychological drama, setting the scene, drawing you in and making you wonder “just where is this going”. The second act moves at a good pace and the nightmare darkens.
The audience were captivated and totally drawn into the acting and the story.
The outstanding performance for me was by Hannah Blaikie who was able to move from carefree to confusion to hysteria without over acting. Having said that all of the cast were strong and believable and guide you through the plot as they pull the wool over your eyes.
So enjoy your evening and don’t have nightmares.