James Earl Adair Website

A plot as thick as broth

by Doreen Friend -- SLEUTH, by Anthony Shaffer, has so many twists and turns it is almost impossible to predict what will happen next.

Whodunnit writer Andrew (James Earl Adair) is mid-way through writing his next whodunit, Murder on the Tennis Courts, when Milo Tindle (Richard Emerson) arrives at his Wiltshire home.

Andrew greets him with the words "I understand you want to marry my wife", and Milo makes the gentlemanly reply "with your permission, of course".

Andrew convinces Milo he will be glad to get rid of the money-grubbing Marguerite and persuades him to steal her jewels for the insurance money.

Incredibly Milo doesn't take much persuading but, as Andrew says, the plot thickens, and by the end of the first act, Milo is dressed as a clown and lies on the stairs, apparently shot dead.

The set for Sleuth at the Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, is fantastic and does much to give the play its dramatic effect. There are a number of very good one-liners and comic speeches, such as "cleanliness is next to sexiness", and "you have all the killer instincts of a hedgehog".

As Andrew, Adair uses his talents of caricature and impersonation to great effect, being as camp as a ballet dancer one minute and as Cockney as a barrow boy the next.

And Emerson gets a lot of laughs as he trudges round the set, tripping on his overswized, bright red clown shoes. But try as they might, the actors failed to lift the play to its needed level of terror.

Andrew doesn't just write detective novels, he lives them out in his own personal fantasy, as is revealed in act two.

This part of the play is much better paced and definitely has a lot of edge-of-the-seat moments. When raincoated Inspector Doppler arrives to investigate the disappearance of Milo, a new game plan is revealed.

The plot becomes as thick as broth and the tables turn and turn again as and the inspector checks out the clues and tells Andrew there is enough circumstantial evidence to have him put away.

What happens next must remain a secret, but a clue is provided by Andrew, who says: "The quickest way to a man's heart is through humiliation."

The dialogue is a little dated at times, and clues are given in riddles that only the well-read would guess � until they are explained.

And like all good crime stories, the audience is left reeling as the cast play a fatal game of who will murder whom.

Be prepared for gunshots and a final twist that leaves the audience gasping in amazement.

Sleuth is on at the Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, until October 25. Call the box office on 01708 443333.

Epping Forest Guardian