LOOKNG GOOD DEAD AT THE ARTS THEATRE
Laurie Brett Luke Ward-Wilkinson andAdam Woodyatt as they plunge into a world of horror
When Tom Bryce gets home after a long commute to his chichi house in Brighton, he is keen to trace a loudmouth fellow passenger who has left his memory stick on the train. His wife Kelly played (brilliantly) by Laurie Brett, is ready to greet him with a string of complaints about their finances, whilst their scratchy and restless 17 year old son Max, played with extraordinary conviction – and nuance- by Luke Ward- Wilkinson, sits out the family row armed with his sound baffled headphones- designed to screen out the constant arguments of his parents. He emerges armed with his sophisticated digital skill, to help his father on his mission to find the owner of the memory stick material.
And suddenly, in an instant the digital world comes after them - as we thought it might. Before long Tom, Kelly and Max confront a dark world of almost unimaginable evil.
Laurie Brett as Kellie ponders the future
I have always contended that when computers enter a story, interest dissipates and leaves the action as flat as a 36-inch screen. Wrong. Everyone in the audience was super-glued to this play.. But mostly I reckon because these actors took ordinary looking people and propelled them into a vortex of teeth clenching fear.
Peter James has no compunction about his own dark art of terror. Indeed he believes it works better live on stage,
“I think thrillers work so wonderfully in the glorious medium of theatre, where we all seated together, in the darkness, all sharing the uncertainties and shocks as they unfold.” And unfold they do with relentless intensity. Tom played by Adam Woodyatt carries the action but the entire cast from hapless victim Bella Moy played with brisk everyday familiarity, by Gemma Stroyan, the entire Police team headed by the deftly insouciant Harry Long and his sidekick Glenn done with wry skill by Leon Stewart .He and his snappy dressing boss make a super-plausible double act. And plaudits too for a cool Ian Houghton as Jonas Kent at the centre of the rising tension.
Peter James is a master of crime fiction; his thrillers enthrall readers across the world. He is also a trickster a l’extrordinaire. Even the account of his own creation in the play’s programme, takes the reader down the wrong path.
Transfer this Machiavellian mischief to the stage and an electrifying evening of tense modern drama explodes. Looking Good Deadmakes a simple- seeming plot into a truly terrifying drama. The author is cheerfully calculating about how he aims to inject excitement and terror into his work.
“ I love to draw the darkness from the world, distil it, have you sitting on the edge of your seats, wracked with nervous tension until right up the very end where we all hope that the world is put back into order again”
How to justify the massively lucrative techniques that exploit evil for entertainment? To what purpose is all the fear and tension of a really gripping thriller? I should confess here that I belong to that category the BBC used to warn before a lively programme as “ Those of a nervous disposition”. In fact even writing this review makes my heart race. And I do question what it’s all for, what the ethics of murder for pleasure involve?
The author is ready with an argument of his own, he points out that any newspaper or app features “Every kind of crime and human darkness imaginable. But what fascinates me is the human side of criminals “ And as for the value of all this “we leave the theatre and step out into the buzz of the city streets and suddenly we are feeling stronger, we’ve conquered those fears of the past two hours. The world seems a safer place”
For some probably, for others this is strong stuff indeed.
