When Rachel Kavanaugh was looking for a couple of experienced villains, not even the London mafia could have come up with an apparently more qualified pair than Todd Boyce and Neil McDermott.
McDermott is the relative novice in the business, having as East Ender Ryan Malloy despatched a solitary soul in the TV soap, so no doubt he could still learn a trick or two from Boyce, whose Stephen Reid reduced the Coronation Street payroll by four before his time was up.
Director Kavanaugh pitches the two actors against each other in this comedy thriller. The stage design is the classic country house, furnished with Egyptian sarcophagus, Chesterfield, armour and jolly Jack Tar—a perfect set-up for events that follow, as well as a send-up of the hokum detective novels written by its owner, Andrew Wyke.
Wyke (Boyce) has invited over his wife’s lover Milo and persuades him to participate in faking a burglary as part of an insurance scam. But is it really an exercise in humiliation, and if so whose?
There is a supercilious air about the game-playing Wyke, a man using his skill with words to batter and demean his intended victim, and Boyce keeps the dialogue pacy if sometimes at the cost of easy comprehension. McDermott’s Milo proves to be a more resilient and versatile adversary than expected, just dopey enough to go along with Wyke’s plans, just smart enough to... whatever.
Of course that would be to give too much away. Film and stage directors have chosen slightly different endings—here I felt was a bit of a botch, either toned down or underplayed. A good and diverting evening’s entertainment, nonetheless.
Sleuth's UK tour continues to Cheltenham, Guildford, Dartford and Richmond until Saturday 18 May.