Busy playing mind games in Shaffer’s Sleuth
A DARK psychological thriller featuring top television stars will be on stage at the town’s theatre this week.
Sleuth, one of the greatest ever stage thrillers, is being performed at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking until Saturday.
The play, written by Anthony Shaffer, promises to baffle even the most proficient sleuth so budding Miss Marples and Poirots should grab their magnifying glasses and book their seats.
Sleuth ran for 12 years in London and New York, winning the Tony award for best play and inspiring the hugely successful film starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. But the show is much more than a ‘whodunit’ and will leave the audience wanting more as they become entangled in a web of intrigue and suspense.
Simon MacCorkindale, known to fans as consultant Harry Harper in the BBC hospital drama Casualty and star of the film Riddle of the Sands, appears in the play with Michael Praed, who featured in the television series, Robin of Sherwood.
Simon said: “The show is about a man called Andrew Wyke, who is an author. He’s been very successful with his books but does not have quite the same readership as he used to and then finds out his wife is having an affair.
“Andrew invites the young man his wife is having an affair with, Milo Tindle, to his house. He plays games with his mind and things go from good to bad, from the ridiculous to the insane. There are a lot of twists and turns.”
Sleuth’s 16-week tour started in Windsor at the end of January and Simon is returning to Woking this week, having starred in Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest last year.
He first discovered an interest in drama when he was taken to a show as a youngster. Afterwards, he had vivid memories of the performance.
He said: “Once I was home I could not stop talking about what I had seen. I talked about every costume so my love of theatre goes back a long time.
“The show, Sleuth, is a great piece and I hope the audience will enjoy it. They always want to get in front in the story but it will be hard as it’s full of twists and turns.”