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‘Til death us do part . . .
L The Perfect Murder
New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham
**** FAMED crime writer Peter James seems to
have created a new theatrical genre with The Perfect Murder, the
comedy-horror-murder mystery–psychological-thriller with sex thrown in
for good measure. And the something for everybody formulae works
with plenty of laughs, a few jump out of your skin moments, twists a
plenty and a clever ending that is disguised until the final curtain is
in sight. Victor Smiley, played by TV regular Robert Daws,
perhaps best known as Roger in the wonderful Outside Edge, has
a marriage which exists in name only. His wife Joan, played by Dawn Steele, who was
Lexie in Monarch of the Glen, is still an attractive woman, but
over 20 years the romance in her life has been replaced by constant rows
and bickering and although there is a hint that an inability to have
children might have played its part in the breakdown, by now it is just
another stick to beat each other with. We first come across Victor in the The Kitten
Parlour brothel, an establishment which seems to have been missed off
the things to see and do in Brighton listings. Victor, the IT manager of
the ninth largest egg box manufacturer in England, is on one of his
three times a week visits to Croatian prostitute Kamila Walcak, played
by Romanian actress Simona Armstrong. She is his emotional, and sexual,
escape from a marriage he is determined to end - and with his obsession
with murder, and hero-worship of Sherlock Holmes, he has evolved the
perfect plan, one which will not involve troubling the divorce courts. All would be well except Joan has discovered her
own bit on the side in the rather more muscular shape of Don Kirk,
played by Gray O’Brian, another TV regular,
. Into the plot stumbles DC Roy Grace, who was to
become Det Supt Grace in his own series of James’s novels. The young DC,
played by Thomas Howes, second footman William in Downton Abbey,
first contacts Kamila for assistance in a missing person inquiry and is
then contacted by her when another person vanishes. And his youthful
doggedness eventually reveals the truth, or at least one version of the
truth We won’t give the plot away save to say we have
lots of laughs, a bit of violence and gore, two deaths, one and a half
murders, things that go bump in the night and a few twists and turns
along the way. A fine cast are always believable led by Daws as Victor who seems to be going through not a long running, btter, mid life crisis that has been building for years. His sniping and cutting remarks and petty rows
had a ring of truth for many a couple in the audience, while Steele’s
Joan was a woman who was not yet ready to embrace middle age, let along
old age, but who had become an outsider married to a stranger. The only
part of the marriage vows that seemed to still apply were 'til death
us do part. You feel for Kamila as her dreams of escape from her life as a sex worker are supposedly shattered, dislike O’Brien’s Don as a bit of a flash wide boy, and have confidence in the quiet DC Grace to get to the bottom of things, or near enough to close the file-and remember the hallmatk of a perfect murder is that it is never detected. Shaun McKenna’s stage adaptation is both funny,
at times hilariously so, with a few topical references thrown in, and is
clever enough to string you along well into the second act before the
final twist is revealed, while Michael Holt’s three level set design is
masterful, providing Kamila’s room in the brothel, Victor and Joan’s
living room, as well as their kitchen and upstairs bedroom, all without
a scene change and pause. Mark Howett;s lighting had some nice touches as
well, such as the flickering light on the lounge walls from the huge TV
Victor had bought, which was supposedly suspended on the fourth wall
above the audience. Martin Hodgson’s sound was well executed as well
with neat little touches such as a phone ringing in a drawer and
instantly becoming louder as the drawer opens, which, along with the
lighting, is a credit to the usually unsung technical crew. Ian Talbot’s direction keeps up a cracking pace
and for two and a half hours the audience were gripped by a clever plot,
the theatrical equivalent of a book you cannot put down. To 15-11-14 Roger Clarke
10-11-14
**** IT’S a rare experience to be able to
describe a murder play as a bundle of laughs, but there are moments
verging on slapstick in this clever story by best selling author Peter
James. There were even giggles from the first night
audience as one victim was despatched, with the action veering from
violence to comedy, and even a helping of sex under a duvet, plus visits
to a brothel. After 20 years of marriage, Victor and Joan
Smiley spend much of the time in each other’s company moaning or nagging
each other, she irritated by his constant humming, he dissatisfied with
her appearance, though actress Dawn Steele (Wild at Heart and Monarch of
the Glen) looked pretty good from where I was sitting. Robert Daws (The Royal, and Outside Edge) is
excellent as cheating Victor who decides the only way to solve the
problem is to plan the perfect murder, but inevitably things go wrong in
a most unexpected way. Some of the twists and turns are difficult to
swallow but the dark humour involved is entertaining and Dawn Steele
gives a delightful performance as Joan, who, it transpires, has a her
own perfect plan to silence her dodgy husband. Muscular Gray O’Brien is suitably convincing as
Joan’s secret friend Don Kirk, Thomas Howes (Downton Abbey) impresses as
the young Detective Constable Roy Grace, and Simona Armstrong adds
glamour to the role of Eastern European prostitute Kamila Walcak. A splendid set manages to squeeze the Smileys’
living room, kitchen, bedroom and part of the Kitten Parlour brothel
onto the stage at the same time in what could be described as the
imperfect murder. But hugely enjoyable.. To 15.11.14 Paul Marston
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best
known as Tony Gordon in Coronation Street.