FATAL ENCOUNTER at the THEATRE ROYAL, NOTTINGHAM
Right from the word go you can spot most of the give-away components: the posh west London flat; the drinks supply which you just know will be well-used – this time down-stage right; the classy occupations everyone has – publisher, art dealer, MP, and so on; and, of course, the sofa centre stage directly facing the audience.
Even by Durbridgean standards there are a lot of doorbells and telephones continually ringing; they almost drive protagonist Howard Mansfield (Andrew Ryan in a beautifully gimmick-free performance) to distraction.
Without giving too much away, it’s a clever twisting and turning plot which incorporates other nasty misdeeds besides murder, and a dose of will-he (or she)-get-away-with-it alongside the whodunnit element.
And – unusually, perhaps, for Durbridge – there’s a flashback scene in a pub. It features Mansfield’s wayward wife Joanna (Susan Earnshaw), who enjoys more than the occasional scotch, and ageing bad boy Perry Kingsley (played by Adrian Lloyd James with a rough accent and the suggestion of a limp).
This week’s man from the Yard, Coldwell, a well-spoken gentleman for a change, is well played by Jeremy Lloyd-Thomas, who firmly resists any temptation to base his performance on anyone else’s. His very smile makes it clear that he’s on top of the job and arrests can be expected. Michael Sherwin, in a good performance, makes the fastidiously dressed art dealer Mark Adler so timid and rabbity you think he must live in a hutch.
This is late work from Durbridge’s. There’s a televisual quality to the proceedings, heightened in this production by raucous big band music before the start and deliberately over-enthusiastic music to rachet up the tension at subsequent crucial moments.
Although the action has been put back to the sixties designer Geoff Gilder tastefully keeps the checks in check. And since it’s early sixties there are no over-wide lapels or flared trousers. At one point Grace Kingsley is wearing a hat to match the cushions; but, since she’s a somewhat flamboyant and comical character (nicely done by Jacqueline Gilbride) with what sounds like a Morningside accent but might not be, this can be excused.
Theme spotters might go home from this with nothing to report, and the plot needs some concentration; but this is unapologetically entertaining.
ALAN GEARY, NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST
FRANCIS Durbridge fans will love this feast of twists and turns in the third of four plays in this year's Classic Thriller Season at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham.
Fatal Encounter, which amazingly does not seem to have appeared before despite the thriller season being in its 26th year, has more red herrings than a brightly-coloured fishmonger's shop.
As ever, the action takes place in the front room of a house in the 1960s. It is owned by Howard Mansfield, played with suitable aplomb by Andrew Ryan, ably abetted by stage wife Susan Earnshaw as Joanna.
Revealing too much of the plot here could spoil the enjoyment of a storyline that actually owes more to honesty than most Durbridge, or, indeed, any other thrillers. Intrigued? You will be.
But suffice to say there is the usual mix of death, blackmail, murder and the interfering detective, in this case Chris Coldwell, played by the evergreen Jeremy Lloyd Thomas.
His perceptive powers and touch of the Colombo-style last minute question as he leaves the room, do nothing to allay suspicion about his role in everything.
But then the same can be said of Mansfield, his wife and the rest of the cast including Grace Kingsley,
Perry Kingsley, Mark Adler, Hilary Van Zale and Rex Winter, played by Jacqueline Gilbride, Adrian Lloyd James, Michael Sherwin, Sarah Wynne Kordas and Alan Magor, respectively.
Yes, Durbridge does keep everyone guessing if people are who they say they are or who has actually done what to who?
ZENA HAWLEY, DERBY TELEGRAPH
"truly excellent thriller" -
http://kevcastletheatrereviews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/fatal-encounter-nottingham-theatre.html
Right from the word go you can spot most of the give-away components: the posh west London flat; the drinks supply which you just know will be well-used – this time down-stage right; the classy occupations everyone has – publisher, art dealer, MP, and so on; and, of course, the sofa centre stage directly facing the audience.
Even by Durbridgean standards there are a lot of doorbells and telephones continually ringing; they almost drive protagonist Howard Mansfield (Andrew Ryan in a beautifully gimmick-free performance) to distraction.
Without giving too much away, it’s a clever twisting and turning plot which incorporates other nasty misdeeds besides murder, and a dose of will-he (or she)-get-away-with-it alongside the whodunnit element.
And – unusually, perhaps, for Durbridge – there’s a flashback scene in a pub. It features Mansfield’s wayward wife Joanna (Susan Earnshaw), who enjoys more than the occasional scotch, and ageing bad boy Perry Kingsley (played by Adrian Lloyd James with a rough accent and the suggestion of a limp).
This week’s man from the Yard, Coldwell, a well-spoken gentleman for a change, is well played by Jeremy Lloyd-Thomas, who firmly resists any temptation to base his performance on anyone else’s. His very smile makes it clear that he’s on top of the job and arrests can be expected. Michael Sherwin, in a good performance, makes the fastidiously dressed art dealer Mark Adler so timid and rabbity you think he must live in a hutch.
This is late work from Durbridge’s. There’s a televisual quality to the proceedings, heightened in this production by raucous big band music before the start and deliberately over-enthusiastic music to rachet up the tension at subsequent crucial moments.
Although the action has been put back to the sixties designer Geoff Gilder tastefully keeps the checks in check. And since it’s early sixties there are no over-wide lapels or flared trousers. At one point Grace Kingsley is wearing a hat to match the cushions; but, since she’s a somewhat flamboyant and comical character (nicely done by Jacqueline Gilbride) with what sounds like a Morningside accent but might not be, this can be excused.
Theme spotters might go home from this with nothing to report, and the plot needs some concentration; but this is unapologetically entertaining.
ALAN GEARY, NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST
FRANCIS Durbridge fans will love this feast of twists and turns in the third of four plays in this year's Classic Thriller Season at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham.
Fatal Encounter, which amazingly does not seem to have appeared before despite the thriller season being in its 26th year, has more red herrings than a brightly-coloured fishmonger's shop.
As ever, the action takes place in the front room of a house in the 1960s. It is owned by Howard Mansfield, played with suitable aplomb by Andrew Ryan, ably abetted by stage wife Susan Earnshaw as Joanna.
Revealing too much of the plot here could spoil the enjoyment of a storyline that actually owes more to honesty than most Durbridge, or, indeed, any other thrillers. Intrigued? You will be.
But suffice to say there is the usual mix of death, blackmail, murder and the interfering detective, in this case Chris Coldwell, played by the evergreen Jeremy Lloyd Thomas.
His perceptive powers and touch of the Colombo-style last minute question as he leaves the room, do nothing to allay suspicion about his role in everything.
But then the same can be said of Mansfield, his wife and the rest of the cast including Grace Kingsley,
Perry Kingsley, Mark Adler, Hilary Van Zale and Rex Winter, played by Jacqueline Gilbride, Adrian Lloyd James, Michael Sherwin, Sarah Wynne Kordas and Alan Magor, respectively.
Yes, Durbridge does keep everyone guessing if people are who they say they are or who has actually done what to who?
ZENA HAWLEY, DERBY TELEGRAPH
"truly excellent thriller" -
http://kevcastletheatrereviews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/fatal-encounter-nottingham-theatre.html