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Sun, sand, sangria and . . . murder
View from outside: Christopher Villiers, Michelle Morris and Matt Healy in Ian Dicken's Inside Job.
Inside Job
Wolverhampton Grand
****
MURDER is a serious business - particularly if you happen to be
the victim - but the excellent cast of three manage to bring a light
touch with a sprinkling of humour to this good old fashioned thriller.
The play is set in a Spanish villa somewhere on the Costa Del Crime
where in the good old days in the 70s and 80s British criminals - who
were to a man good to their mum - escaped beyond the clutches of the law
by taking advantage of the few years of diplomatic handbag swinging when
the extradition agreements between Spain and Britain broke down
Larry, played by Emmerdale bad boy Matt Healy is a fully paid up member
of the bad boys abroad, a rogue with a twinkle in his eye and currently
that twinkle is shining on Suzy, played by Michelle Morris, the
attractive and flirty wife of diamond dealer Alex, who, using her
undoubted charms, sees Larry as an easy passport to a new life of
freedom.
Alex meanwhile, played by another Emmerdale favourite, Christopher
Villiers, also sees good, or should it b bad, old Larry as a chance for
a new, less encumbered future while Larry . . . well Larry is always
looking for a chance, whatever it is, as long as it shows a profit.
So three very believable protagonists with three very different agendas
all linked like the spokes of a wheel in a play with a beginning, a
middle and a clever twist at the end.
Matt Healy perhaps had the most difficult job in that his Larry is
essentially a likeable character and even though you quickly know
he is a baddy there is a sense of betrayal when you discover he is . . .
well . . . a baddy which is hardly a surprise considering that is
what you knew all along.
Alex, on the other hand, is much simpler, a drunken, dodgy diamond
dealer with a violent temper and a scheming mind while Suzy is just a
good time girl wanting a good time somewhere else.
Simple really except Brian Clemens’ script keeps you guessing until the
very last moments while Giles Watling’s direction manages to build the
tension slowly but with enough pace to keep you interested from the
start.
If there was a fault it was with the stage fights when even from the
dress circle you could see no contact was even close to being made.
This is the first of four Ian Dickens’ productions in the Grand’s four
week rep season and if the next three are anywhere near as good this it
will be an entertaining month for theatre audiences who like to get
their teeth into a good play.
Next week sees The Late Edwina Black, a period thriller set in
Victorian England and with a cast of only four, including a police
inspector, the whodunit guessing game comes down to a pretty small
field. Richard Walsh from London’s Burning stars.
After that comes the comedy It’s Never Too Late with Hi-Di Hi’s
Jeffrey Holland - from Walsall incidentally - and finally a spoof Agatha
Christie country house whodunit, Murdered to Death with Norman
Pace.
Inside out . . .
* * * *
THERE are so many twists and turns, bluffs and double-bluffs in
Brian Clemens' play that the audience probably feel a touch confused and
dizzy as they head for home.
Set in the Costa del Sol - which gained the tag the Costa del Crime -
the thriller is loaded with violence and laughs, cleverly inter-woven to
keep you guessing right to the final bloody scene.
Emmerdale stars Matt Healy and Christopher Villiers cross swords as the
two main characters, while Michelle Morris adds the dash of glamour, and
a well designed and built set helps create the atmosphere of sunny
Spain.
Healy is more amusing than threatening in the role of Larry, a
professional British safe-cracker lured into a web of theft and maybe
murder by the stunning Morris who plays Suzy, want-away wife of gems
dealer Alex.
Villiers gives a hugely impressive performance as the amiable Alex who
shows he can look after himself, and long before the conclusion you are
wondering which of the trio will bite the dust - if any.
Inside Job, an Ian Dickens production directed by Giles Watling, runs to
Saturday night (July 10) and is the first of four offerings in the
Grand's Summer Play Season which continues to July 31 Paul Marston |
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