REBUS: A GAME CALLED MALICE, FESTIVAL THEATRE, EDINBURGH ****
It’s amazing how a cast change can shift the dynamic of a play. Rebus: A Game Called Malice premiered just over a year at Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, in a shorter version that has now been reworked to allow characters to be fleshed out more. Only one of that original cast remains, former Emmerdale favourite, Billy Hartman. Even the lead man has changed, then John Michie donned the mantle of John Rebus, in this production, Gray O’Brien takes on the role. To say one was better than the other would be wrong. To say they are certainly very different would be fair.
If Michie’s ex-copper was gruffer and darker in nature, O’Brien brings a lightness to the role and in so doing presents a far more jovial, easily likeable incarnation, one with a cheeky quip and wry smile for any occasions. It’s around this interpretation of a character that has now been portrayed by more than 20 actors (O’Brien is number 21), that the action of the piece unfolds.
Rebus: A Game Called Malice is the second play to feature Rankin’s iconic Scottish detective and the third play from the best-selling author turned playwright himself, writing in partnership on this occasion with Simon Reade, having previously shared credits with Mark Thomson on Dark Shadows and Rona Munro on Rebus: Long Shadows.
If A Game Called Malice is very different in feel to Rankin’s first Rebus play, Long Shadows, there is one common denominator, actor Neil McKinven who was not only cast in Long Shadows but went on to take over the titular role when the star of the production found himself incapacitated. Here McKinven creates a crotchety dinner party host in Paul Goodwin, the perfect foil for his ‘lady of the manor’ wife, Harriet, a quietly unassuming yet compelling performance from Teresa Banham.
Set in the drawing room of the Goodwins’ Edinburgh town house, the story revolves around a murder mystery game devised by Harriet to entertain her guests; dodgy casino owner Jack Fleming, his much younger companion Candida Jones, Stephanie Jeffries a long time lawyer friend of John Rebus and the now retired detective himself.
Avoiding all spoilers, it will come as no surprise to learn that as the evening progresses, a body is discovered in the master bedroom and so the finger of suspicion flicks from dinner guest to dinner guest and the hosts themselves. Can Rebus solve not one, but two deaths before the end of the evening.
Cleverly Rebus: A Game Called Malice works on a number of levels. As the cast drip feed information and clues to the audience it proves a device that draws those watching ever deeper into the intrigue, the game, if you like, as the fictional murder dreamed up by Harriet and the reality unfolding around them, intertwine.
In the best tradition of all whodunits, everyone has a guilty secret and more than one a strong motive for murder and there are just enough red herrings to keep everyone guessing, characters and audience alike.
Of the suspects, Jade Kennedy gives a nicely engaging turn as social media influencer Candida Jones, while Abigail Thaw is a thoughtful Stephanie Jeffries. If the latter is underplayed, the same can not be said for Billy Hartman who reprises his role as local gangster Jack Fleming. It’s a part he obviously relishes and brings real depth too in a show-stealing performance that goes from charming to brooding and downright sinister.
Played out Terry Parsons classic town house dinner party set, the address of which draws an irreverent knowing chuckle from the opening night local audience, the static nature of Loveday Ingram’s direction chooses to focus attention onto the twists and turns of Rankin’s script and on the secret agendas of those present. Will you work it out before Rebus? Cosy crime with a sharp edge doesn’t come better than this.
Rebus: A Game Called Malice runs at Festival Theatre Edinburgh until 14 September. Tickets here.
Rebus: A Game Called Malice tour dates and tickets here.
