Bradford Alhambra
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Programme Bradford Alhambra |
Prequel to the action: Photographer Sam Henderson, whilst returning from a business trip to Holland, was tricked by a fellow traveller into carrying back a doll, beleiving it to have been a gift for a sick child. In fact it was packed with heroin. When the smuggler called at Sam's home to retreive the doll he could not find it. Not wishing to rouse suspicion, the smuggler departed pretending the doll was unimportant.
The action of the play: A mysterious character, Stoat, employs two small time confidence tricksters, Mike and Croker, to recover the doll. Having ensured that Sam will be away for the day by booking him for a bogus photoshoot in Brighton the crooks descend on his blind wife Susy. Mike befriends Susy by pretending to be an old friend of Sam's from his days in the Army. Croker plays the part of a policemen investigating the murder of a woman whose body was found nearby (the find has been on the radio news - it was the woman who gave Sam the doll, murdered by Stoat). They trick Susy into thinking that Sam had been seeing the murdered woman and that the doll would implicate him in her murder. With Mike's help Susy searches the flat but the doll is not there. After Mike leaves Gloria, the 12 year old daughter of a neighbour who runs errands for Susy, returns the doll which she had taken in a fit of pique after being corrected in the mistaken belief that it was meant for her. Susy calls Mike to say the doll has been found, but then discovers from Gloria that he has been waiting outside in a Dormobile with Croker. Realising she has been duped Susy hides the doll and sends Mike on false goose-chase to her husbands studio. Realising their ruse has been discovered the crooks turn on Susy, but she is ready for them. She sends Gloria to meet her husband at the train station. Meanwhile, in a blacked-out flat, she must survive until his return, with darkness as her only ally.
A well crafted psychological thriller. This is not a whodunnit since we know from the start who the bad guys are and who Susy can and cannot trust. Consequently there are few surprises and the main interest lies in watching Susy putting the clues together and ultimately turning the darkness which has become her world to her advantage. There's little explicit violence in the play until the very end, but there is throughout an underlying air of foreboding as this vulnerable young woman finds herself in the hands of desperate characters.
Susie Amy (Chardonnay in "Footballers Wives") gave a sterling performance as the blind Susy Henderson. It is never easy for a sighted actor to play a blind role, but Susie carried the part utterly convincingly. The aptly named Minnie (mini) Crowe was also perfectly cast as 12 year old Gloria, the slightly errant child who in the beginning is Susy's tormentor as much as helper, but who ultimately becomes her saviour. James Carlton (Jason Kirk in "Emmerdale") gave a sympathetic performance as Mike, the false friend who ultimately develops a genuine liking for Susy and tries to end proceedings before they become too dangerous for her. Michael Melia (Jerry Block in "Dream Team") and Anthony Edridge each gave creditable performances as Croker and Sam Henderson respectively. Last but not least, a now rather portly Derren Nesbitt turned in a workmanlike performance as Stoat but ultimately lacked the sauve charm laden with menace that he was once so good at. As the Stoat character was the main danger to Susy, this lack of overt menace did detract somewhat from the impact of the play.
An enjoyable evenings entertainment.