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Ben Nealon (Leo), Susan Penhaligan (Bella), Lucy Dixon (Karen), Steven Pinder (Lloyd), Robert Duncan (David), Robert Daws (Alex) and Amy Robbins (Monica) Rehearsal for Murder
The New Alexandra Theatre
**** SUICIDE or murder? One suspect who takes
the secret with them, or a whole after show party of theatricals, all
suspects and all with apparent axes to grind. That is the dilemma facing playwright Alex
Dennison when his leading lady and fiancée Monica Welles plunges from
the balcony of her apartment to the pavement 10 floors below. Did she jump or was she . . . helped on her way?
Police and the coroner said suicide but Dennison disagrees and sets out
to prove them wrong. Rehearsal for Murder is
based on a 1982 made for TV movie by US scriptwriting royalty Richard
Levinson and William Link (Columbo,
Murder she Wrote, Ellery Queen etc)
adapted for the stage, with the location switched from Broadway to the
West End, by David Rogers. The story appears simple enough. Big movie star
Monica is making her West End debut in Dennison’s latest comedy and the
eagerly awaited reviews come in during the the first night party in
Monica’s apartment. It looks like the play is a turkey which means
guests vanish like snowflakes in summer. Even so Dennison played convincingly by Robert
Daws, cannot believe Monica, played in big star style by his real life
wife Amy Robbins, could have killed herself over something so trivial as
bad reviews – after all the couple were getting married the following
day. Fast forward a year to the day and Dennison has
gathered cast and crew together in the same West End theatre to read
scenes from his new play. So we have leading man David, played with
conceited charm by
Then we have director Lloyd, who turns out to be
rather lovelorn and angst ridden, played by Steven Pinder and producer
Bella, who displays the hard-nosed attitude of the monied played by
Susan Penhaligon.
Then there is Ernie, theatre handyman and
stagehand, Martin Carroll, police in the shape of Mark Carter along with
Dennison’s ready to please new assistant Sally, Holly Ellis and a second
policeman played by Gwynfor Jones, all peripheral figures in Dennison’s
elaborate plan. Dennison’s new play is about a play which gives
us a play about a play about a play – please try to keep up at the back
- and as Dennison makes each of the main characters read their parts
motives for murder multiply like rabbits in spring. We have rejected advances, betrayed love, naked
ambition and that old crime favourite, an insurance job and that is just
for starters as the reading starts to turn nasty as Dennison declares
the killer is someone in the theatre. Dennison is playing the role of Monica in each of
the scenes but cleverly it is actually Monica playing herself which adds
both tension and realism to the series of revelations as we are left to
decide who had most to gain, most to lose or simply most desire for
revenge. That would have been too simple though, murder
mysteries need just that, mystery, so Levinson and Link take you to the
brink then as the murderer is about to be revealed add a twist,
revealing a door that had been hinted at but never opened for a dramatic
ending. Plays about plays set in theatres can be seen as
self-indulgent but they can also work well, after all it is the world we
go to see every time we take our seats and wait for the curtain to rise,
so it is something we are all familiar with and here in Bill Kenwright’s
new venture. The Classic Thriller Theatre Company, it works very well
indeed. The twist is well disguised but with enough clues
to make it plausible and not a complete surprise, and then tension is
built up nicely by director Roy Marsden and a good cast on a single,
authentic looking set from Julie Godfrey. A word too for the technical crew who had to deal
with Dan Samson’s sound design and Douglas Kuhrt’s lighting. Plays often
have two lighting cues for each act. Fade up at the start, fade down at
the end. Here there are plenty of cues for both the incidental music and
the ever changing lighting for Dennison’s extracts, or to highlight
scenes or pick out characters. Probably no one noticed music or lights
or gave it a second thought – which means they did their job well. Rehearal for Murder is a clever mystery which
will keep you intrigued and guessing until the end. To 09-04-16. Roger Clarke 05-04-16 And in the next scene . . . *** AT times it’s a little difficult for the
audience to keep pace with the twists and turns in this murder mystery,
written by Richard Levinson and William Link. It is set in a West End theatre with playwright
Alex Dennison staging a reading of his new play, exactly a year after
his actress fiancee died from apparent balcony fall suicide following an
opening night panned by the critics. He is convinced she was murdered despite the
police being satisfied there was no foul play, and the group of actors
become increasingly uneasy as he launches his own investigation into
glamorous Monica Welles’ death . . . while the occasional appearance of
her ‘ghost’ to aid flashbacks can confuse. Robert Daws (The Royal, Poldark and Outside Edge)
does, however, give a truly powerful performance as the determined
Dennison and the more revealing second act contains several highly
dramatic moments in the hunt for the truth. Daws’ real-life wife, Amy Robbins, plays the
tragic Monica and the eleven-strong cast from the Classic Thriller
Theatre Company all pull their weight in helping to keep the customers
guessing. Bill Kenwright’s latest presentation, directed by
Roy Marsden, runs to 09.04.16 Paul Marston
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Robert
Duncan, young actress Karen played as a rising star, in her eyes at
least, by Lucy Dixon along with juvenile lead Leo, played as a still
struggling actor by Ben Nealon.