Post by duncan on Mar 5, 2016 12:24:55 GMT
The Perfect Murder. (Kings, Edinburgh)
Victor is bored of his marriage to Joan and of his whole life, the only way out he can see is to murder Joan. What he doesnt know is that Joan feels the same and is also planning for his demise.
Shane Richie and Jesse Wallace lead a cast of 5 in this adaptation of a Peter James novella. Well I have to say I wasnt expecting this to be as comedic as it was and a near full house lapped it up. Richie and Wallace cast aside their most well known roles and are great fun as the bickering couple, Richie is quietly menacing as the husband with a love of murder mysteries who thinks he has devised the perfect murder to give himself a healthy insurance payout (whilst also moaning about the lesbians in the ITV Marple series
) and Wallace spends the first half underplaying as the wife who is also looking to end the relationship.
MASSIVE SPOILER AHOY
The James character Roy Grace then becomes involved in the case, this is set at the start of his career and is his first big case. There are hints to the books, his hankering for psychics and at one point he speaks to his wife on the phone.
Have to admit that I saw the finale coming a mile off but it was none the worse for it. I booked this before I knew the cast and writer of the original story, having been bored witless by the tour of a James book last year and was pleasantly surprised with this one - its cliched old nonsense but the cast liven it up into something blackly comedic.
7/10
Victor is bored of his marriage to Joan and of his whole life, the only way out he can see is to murder Joan. What he doesnt know is that Joan feels the same and is also planning for his demise.
Shane Richie and Jesse Wallace lead a cast of 5 in this adaptation of a Peter James novella. Well I have to say I wasnt expecting this to be as comedic as it was and a near full house lapped it up. Richie and Wallace cast aside their most well known roles and are great fun as the bickering couple, Richie is quietly menacing as the husband with a love of murder mysteries who thinks he has devised the perfect murder to give himself a healthy insurance payout (whilst also moaning about the lesbians in the ITV Marple series
) and Wallace spends the first half underplaying as the wife who is also looking to end the relationship.MASSIVE SPOILER AHOY
....and its Richie who ends up being bumped off at the end of the first act in an exceptionally comedic scene involving bin bags which leads Wallace to play to the balcony in the second half as she starts to think that Victor is haunting her and Richie is reduced to standing in doorways at the back of the set in clouds of smoke
The James character Roy Grace then becomes involved in the case, this is set at the start of his career and is his first big case. There are hints to the books, his hankering for psychics and at one point he speaks to his wife on the phone.
Have to admit that I saw the finale coming a mile off but it was none the worse for it. I booked this before I knew the cast and writer of the original story, having been bored witless by the tour of a James book last year and was pleasantly surprised with this one - its cliched old nonsense but the cast liven it up into something blackly comedic.
7/10