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George Rainsford as Grace (left) Ore Oduba as Piper and Gemma Stroyan’as Ds Moy in the background. Pictures: Chris Bishop Picture You Dead The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham **** The dodgier world of art is exposed in this seventh Peter James novel to step from page to stage and it adds a touch of humour to proceedings, to go with the inevitable corpse, making it not just a crime thriller but rather entertaining fun. It all revolves around a long lost painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The painting, Summer, was fictional, part of an equally fictional four seasons set, but Fragonard, an 18th-century French artist was real enough – knocking out an astonishing 550 paintings plus drawings and etchings, But back to the fictional painting in the plot which Harry Kipling, played with boundless enthusiasm by Ben Cutler, had picked, just for the frame mind, for £20 at a car boot sale. It didn’t go down well with wife Freya, played by Fiona Wade, but has she had just shelled out £40 on a swivel chair . . . not a lot she could say really. There was more to the painting than the frame though, discovered by the Kiplings when they discovered the work of an old master hiding under the ghastly painting on show in the frame, which brings in the Antiques Roadshow and Adam Morris as flamboyant art expert, the oohing and aaahing Oliver De Souza. The painting could potentially be worth millions – not bad for a £20 outlay.
Piper with Jodie Steele as the dangerous Roberta That, in turn, gets us mixed up in a cold case murder, a host of dodgy characters and the appearance of Det Sup Roy Grace and Det Sgt Bella Moy. George Rainsford gives us a matter of fact, no nonsense Grace while Gemma Stroyan’s quiet DS seems to be the one collecting all the tiny clues to lead us bit by bit to . . . sorry, but that would be telling. There is master forger . . . sorry copyist, Dave Hegarty, a character painted in fine detail by Mark Oxtoby. Hegarty was sent down by Grace for forging passports and learned his copyist skills in art classes in the nick. He’s legit these days, well legitish. Then there is the ultra-rich Stuart Piper in his ostentatious pool’s winner mansion played with elegant charm – as in like a charming hungry cobra - by Ore Oduba who has a nice line in put downs. His art consultant is Roberta Kilgore played with a delicious air of danger by Jodie Steele. Roberta is slim, blonds, attractive with legs that go on for ever and she seems to have what one might say is a penchant for murder or at the very least inflicting physical pain – one senses any man falling for her would be well advised to study the love life of black widow spiders. Then there is Sean Jones. Sean is best known for playing Mickey in Blood Brothers, a role he has made his own since 2001, and here he is Archie Goff, who could easily be mistaken for Mickey’s Scouser cousin twice removed. Archie is a part time house breaker – part time as his career is regularly interrupted by spells fulfilling duties at his majesty’s pleasure.
Fiona Wade as Freya Kipling with Ben Cutler as husband Harry and the painting driving the plot, Picture: Alistair Muir Mind you, why anyone looking for a skilled burglar to carry out a delicate and, hopefully, undetected piece of house breaking skullduggery would use a bloke out on remand for what will inevitably be his 13th spell of porridge, does show a rather serious lack of judgement . . . just saying. Along the way we pick up a bit of the tricks of the trade if any of the audience wish to try their hand at knocking out fake old masters, such as the use of wood burning stoves or a mate who smokes 60 Capstan Full Strength a day all helping in creating a Sexton or even a bit of cabbage – try the internet to explain those, and who knew you just need a cotton bud and a bottle of nail varnish remover to become an expert art conservator and dab hand, literally, at overpaint removal. All right, there are, should we say, a few liberties taken with the plot in this’ adaptation by Shaun McKenna, but it all moves at such a pace that the incongruities are skirted over and we have moved on to the next scene all aided by Adrian Linford’s clever set. We have the Kipling’s home stage right, Hegarty’s artist’s studio stage left and Piper’s posh pad with its sliding panels to reveal his Fragonard collection, overpainted, one might say, on the studio with a few adjustments here and there to create three sets in one with still the front of stage to play with for link scenes. It means action was continuous, travelling from one side of the stage to the other quite seamlessly with director Jonathan O’Boyle moving everything along at a cracking pace. The seventh play in the series has its moments of drama but perhaps doesn’t take itself quite so seriously as in the past and is all the better for it, it allows a few smiles here and there and provides not just a traditional twist but a humorous twist at the end. The pictures will be exhibited in the Alex gallery to 28-06-25. Roger Clarke 24-06-25 |
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