The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch rivals the West End with its world premiere of ‘Rebus-A Game Called Malice’.

The Queen’s Theatre hit a new high last Saturday as it premiered Ian Rankin’s ‘A Game Called Malice’ and wow! What a way to start the Spring Season at the Hornchurch theatre with this incredible ‘who dunnit.’

This was the world premiere of a  brand new play by one of Britain’s most acclaimed crime writers Ian Rankin and Simon Reade. A fantastic ‘whodunnit’ with shades of An Inspector Calls and some cheeky references to Colombo, this play will grip you from beginning to end.

As we approach the start of the spring, The Queen’s Theatre has provided us with-is it possible to have a sixth star performance? Well, it really is that good!
Set in an elegant drawing room – complete with Scottish School of Art masterpieces – we find a group of people finishing their meal at a small dinner party. The lights dim and one man steps forward; John Rebus, once a Detective Inspector of note, now retired. He asks “can you read the room”? and from here we pick up the story.
Harriet Godwin ( Rebecca Charles) has invited her guests to this small dinner party and has devised a detective game, complete with clues and names and asked her guests to work out the answer. Rebus, has been invited as the guest of lawyer Stephanie Jeffries ( Emily Joyce) along with local casino owner and recently widowed Jack Fleming ( Billy Hartman). Jack has a chequered past with some rather dubious business activities. Accompanying Jack is his latest squeeze Candida Jones (Emma Noakes). Candida is an “influencer” on social media and appears dressed to thrill in a bright red figure hugging mini dress with matching shoes! She appears to be rather vague and distanced but is anything but!
Harriets husband Paul (Forbes Masson)  is rather a brash, hearty sort who exhorts Rebus not to touch the paintings – the insurers don’t like it. He is also getting brasher as the booze flows.
As the guests try and fathom out their hosts little game it is becoming more and more apparent that they all have some rather telling secrets; secrets they would rather not divulge, but these secrets are masterly extracted with guile and determination by Rebus. 

This is a wonderful entertaining play with shades of light and dark and it would not be right to say anymore about it  as it would ruin your evening. The twists and turns are wonderfully constructed and the cast are magnificent in their performances, even when there is silence there is always action. If you like whodunnits this is up there with the best.
John Mitchie plays Rebus superbly, catching the nuances to perfection; he manages to portray the character with a paradox of enigma and openness. He really did “read the room”.
The scenic design by Terry Parsons created a sense of belonging and warmth.
Robin Lefevre has directed this creating a tight well knit cast who extract the maximum from a brilliant work by Ian  Rankin and Simon Reade.
Sadly as we stated earlier, we can only award this Five Stars but it actually deserves Six! It really is a must watch!

Produced by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch in association with Daniel Schumann and Lee Dean.

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