The Sound of Murder by William Fairchild
Charles Norbury is a successful writer of children's books but he doesn't like children. An unlovable man, he has no friends, is arrogant, controlling, sadistic and cruel. His wife, starved of love and denied children of her own, has met another man. In their cottage in Surrey, a tape recorder has been left on during a conversation between his wife and her lover in which the latter plans the author's murder. Charles' secretary listens to the tape and hears the murder plot.
'A gripping plot provides nail-biting tension in William Fairchild's The Sound Of Murder, which earned prolonged applause from an appreciative audience on Tuesday and is superbly projected by director Patric Kearns and a talented cast of six.' - The Brighton Argus
'Truthfully, the winning formula for a thriller has only a limited number of plot variants. It does need a body or three, a high quota of shocking moments, and a willing audience which buys into all the plot twists. Well, The Sound of Murder ticks all those boxes. But what marks it out is some interesting characterisation and some rather fine acting - which, in any other genre, would earn more recognition. The plot - without too many spoilers - is a variant on How To Get Away With Murder, and it unrolls briskly and quite convincingly. There is a spot of adultery and some thoroughly disreputable conduct from virtually everyone, and the developments in Act Two are genuinely exciting and surprising. It neatly, almost too neatly, comes full circle and Tuesday's first-night audience left the theatre well satisfied. But back to the acting. The characters face genuine moral dilemmas, and the wrestling of conscience is expertly and quite sensitively played. There is actually more than one nod to Hamlet, and an artful echo of An Inspector Calls, but none the worse for that. Marcus Hutton is Charles, an author with a perfectly played unpleasant superiority, and Corrinne Wicks combines elegance with angst as his unhappy spouse Anne. Ben Roddy is assured as Peter, the over-assertive lover with a scheme, and his scenes with Corrinne have a genuine gravitas. Michelle Morris has a cracker of a part as the author's secretary, a kind of mouse that roared. John Hester's detective inspector is enigmatic and knowingly in control, and Jolyon Young's cheery constable completes the line-up. Direction and design, by Pat Kearns and David North, are solid and once or twice - especially with lighting - quite adventurous, and the 1960 setting is nicely re-created. Up to scratch, and an enjoyable show.' - Eastbourne Herald
Tickets:
Evenings: £21.50, £19.00, £16.00
Concessions £2.00 off
Matinee: £17.50 All Seats
Friends Offer 1: Buy One Get One Free - First night
Friends Offer 2: £3.00 off all other performances
Friends First Night Party £5.00 - Includes a hot buffet
All ticket prices are inclusive of a £1.00 Restoration Fee