MIndgame
Tue, 20 Mar 2012, 08:47 amGordon the Optom1 post in thread
MIndgame
Tue, 20 Mar 2012, 08:47 am‘MIndgame’ is a ‘true crime’ psychological thriller from Britain’s leading drama playwright, Anthony Horowitz. Horowitz was mainly a writer of children’s books before he created most of the earlier episodes of ‘Midsomer Murders’, adapted many of the Agatha Christie books for television and conceiving the wonderful series ‘Foyle’s War’. At present, Horowitz is writing the sequel to ‘Tintin’.
‘Midgame’ first opened Off Broadway in late 2008, this thrilling psychodrama can be seen at Playlovers, Hackett Hall, Draper Street, Floreat. Shows at 8.00 pm until Saturday 17th March.
A famous writer of true-life murders, and the stories behind the minds of the criminals, Mark Styler (Andy Markland) has arrived at the Fairfields, an institution for the criminally insane in Suffolk. This remote high security hospital houses some of Britain’s worst serial murderers.
Mark has been waiting for half an hour in Dr Farquhar’s extremely untidy office, hoping to interview serial killer Easterman. When Dr. Farquhar (Marcus Plato), the new CEO of the hospital, arrives he is disinclined to let Styler even see Easterman, and certainly not interview the prisoner. Because of his long journey, Style manages to scrounge a cup of coffee which is brought into the office by a very nervous carer, Nurse Plimpton (Susan Flood). She seems to recognise Styler from somewhere, and so secretly slips a note to the reporter telling him to get away as quickly as possible. When she leaves the room, Dr Farquhar, who had spotted the act, demands the note and burns it.
The doctor then goes on to explain to Styler the various restraining methods used at the hospital, and encourages the reporter to try on a straight jacket – not a wise move on Styler’s part.
What was the real reason for Styler going to Fairfields in the first place? Will the reporter escape the strange doctor? Will the nurse possibly come to his rescue?
After a rather slow start to the story, the creepy tale soon had the audience sitting open-mouthed as the events unfurled. There were some clunky hints dropped in the style of a pantomime ‘boom, boom’ with flashing lights and busts of sound effects or eerie bars of music. Good noises-off from David Hardie. I suppose that the playwright meant this to be black humour, but it was generally annoying. There were, however, some very funny black passages.
The cast were wonderful, and with some very long and complicated piece of dialogue they managed to not only retain the pace, but very successfully build the tension. The aloof doctor, who seemed to have something to hide, was excellent. The soft spoken reporter had the audience with him all of the way as the evil Easterman had his wicked way with the poor nurse. A bit bloody, but the nurse conveyed her suffering superbly. A wonderful cast all capturing their characters with style.
Director, Jenny M Ferguson knew how to portray the menace of Easterman and really did create fear. A horrendous night at the theatre – in the best possible way.
‘Midgame’ first opened Off Broadway in late 2008, this thrilling psychodrama can be seen at Playlovers, Hackett Hall, Draper Street, Floreat. Shows at 8.00 pm until Saturday 17th March.
A famous writer of true-life murders, and the stories behind the minds of the criminals, Mark Styler (Andy Markland) has arrived at the Fairfields, an institution for the criminally insane in Suffolk. This remote high security hospital houses some of Britain’s worst serial murderers.
Mark has been waiting for half an hour in Dr Farquhar’s extremely untidy office, hoping to interview serial killer Easterman. When Dr. Farquhar (Marcus Plato), the new CEO of the hospital, arrives he is disinclined to let Styler even see Easterman, and certainly not interview the prisoner. Because of his long journey, Style manages to scrounge a cup of coffee which is brought into the office by a very nervous carer, Nurse Plimpton (Susan Flood). She seems to recognise Styler from somewhere, and so secretly slips a note to the reporter telling him to get away as quickly as possible. When she leaves the room, Dr Farquhar, who had spotted the act, demands the note and burns it.
The doctor then goes on to explain to Styler the various restraining methods used at the hospital, and encourages the reporter to try on a straight jacket – not a wise move on Styler’s part.
What was the real reason for Styler going to Fairfields in the first place? Will the reporter escape the strange doctor? Will the nurse possibly come to his rescue?
After a rather slow start to the story, the creepy tale soon had the audience sitting open-mouthed as the events unfurled. There were some clunky hints dropped in the style of a pantomime ‘boom, boom’ with flashing lights and busts of sound effects or eerie bars of music. Good noises-off from David Hardie. I suppose that the playwright meant this to be black humour, but it was generally annoying. There were, however, some very funny black passages.
The cast were wonderful, and with some very long and complicated piece of dialogue they managed to not only retain the pace, but very successfully build the tension. The aloof doctor, who seemed to have something to hide, was excellent. The soft spoken reporter had the audience with him all of the way as the evil Easterman had his wicked way with the poor nurse. A bit bloody, but the nurse conveyed her suffering superbly. A wonderful cast all capturing their characters with style.
Director, Jenny M Ferguson knew how to portray the menace of Easterman and really did create fear. A horrendous night at the theatre – in the best possible way.