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Peter Ash as forger Dave Hegarty with George Rainsford as Roy Grace. Picture: Alistair Muir Picture You Dead Malvern Theatres ***** It’s a bit of a dream come true: the Kiplings buy a painting at a car boot sale and it turns out to hide a fortune. Unfortunately it doesn’t turn out quite as simply as that. Other nefarious characters get wind of the fact that a rare and valuable work of art has been identified and they want to get their hands on it. This scenario presents another challenge for our detective friend Roy Grace. His investigations into the activities of a brilliant forger of famous works of art, Dave Hegarty, help him to realise that some illicit activities are taking place. Assisted by his side-kick Nella Moy, he delves into the underworld of art forgery to identify the real criminals at work. Peter James is the novelist whose work is dramatized in Malvern this week. The plot is complex, has plenty of twists and turns and the show provides moments both of high drama and of comedy. He is a clever and witty writer and this stage adaptation by Shaun McKenna accelerates dramatically and theatrically through the evening. The strong cast are colourful and varied: George Rainsford (Roy Grace) is a stable and reliable operator, steadily progressing towards identifying the criminals, ably supported by his deputy, Bella Moy played by Gemma Stroyan. Ben Cutler and Fiona Wade, playing Harry and Freya Kipling, are your ordinary, and charming young couple whose financial pressures are seemingly about to be swept away by the luck of their discovery of an artistic masterpiece. Their acquaintance with Dave Hegarty, played very strongly by Peter Ash, introduces the forger whose role is central to all the main characters. They all pivot around him. Jodie Steele (Roberta Kilgore) and Nichloas Maude (Stuart Piper) provide the menace and moments of suspense, and evil that Roy Grace is seeking to uncover. The set is divided into two: the living room of the Kiplings’ home is on one half of the stage; the other half provides Hegarty’s studio and Piper’s mansion. It is a design that works well, enabling the action to progress quickly from one setting to another and maintain momentum and dramatic life. This production is colourful and gripping, and provides an excellent evening’s entertainment. It runs at Malvern Theatres till Saturday 29th March. Tim Crow 25-03-25 |
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