Alan Buckman as the duplicitous Sydney Bruhl kept the play moving with assured timing and physical movement. This created a central character who could make us laugh through the delivery of his lines while at the same time creating an aura of danger. The devil incarnate perhaps, or was that Jardine King as Clifford Anderson. I have seen Jardine (may I call you Jack dear), in a number of productions, but for me this was his most convincing and mature performance. We saw in Jacks portrayal of Clifford a character who developed throughout the play. At the outset he was the enthusiastic innocent, then the worldly accomplice to murder, then the companionable lover and finally a man who was prepared to kill in his own right. The transition was utterly plausible as power gradually shifted from Sydney to Clifford, the turning-point marked by Cliffords demand that his play would not be destroyed when Sydney stooped to burn it in the fireplace. This was a defining moment and excellently played.

These central performances held the play together, engendering the main tension of the piece. I was therefore surprised at the farcical ending, which seemed to rob the evening of its previous intensity. Part of this may have been due to Jill Davies interpretation of Helga ten Dorp. Her portrayal was extremely amusing, showing good comic timing and characterisation. However, was it what the playwright had intended? A character can make us laugh while not themselves being a figure of fun. For my taste a Helga played more earnestly would still have drawn laughter from the lines, but also allowed the tension to be maintained, especially in the final scene which was played as pure comedy rather than thriller. Perhaps this was what Ira Levin wanted; if it was, it still leaves me a mite disappointed, particularly as what had gone before had displayed such clever development of tension and execution of terror ridden stage business.

Rev. Ewer

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