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28/02/2025
Review: Peter James Picture You Dead - Mayflower Theatre https://www.voicefmradio.co.uk/community/blogs/reviews/post/review-peter-james-picture-you-dead-mayflower-theatre/
Never has “fake it until you make it” been such a deadly phrase and in “Picture You Dead” the art of crime writing is a masterpiece.
Touted as the most successful modern-day crime stage franchise since Agatha Christie, Peter James has sold millions for books worldwide with Superintendent Roy Grace as his perennial detective hero.
And you can tell James is a compelling writer, even his programme notes are a cracking read!
Adapted for stage from the bestselling Picture You Dead this is whodunnit, that turns into howtheydunnit and ends… well, that would spoil it for you…
However, what you can expect is some great acting, fast paced scene changes and a complex world of art and forgery explained through fine strokes on a great canvas.
The stage is cleverly split between three main settings, a suburban front room, a stately home study and an artist’s studio.
And with slick production, we shift scenes as quickly as cuts on a TV screen, with the actors holding your attention throughout, and the sound design adding a very subtle yet persuasive underscore.
If you are an avid soap fan there are plenty of well known names on stage, Fiona Wade, recognised for her role as Priya Sharma in ITV’s Emmerdale, is Freya Kipling the wife of Harry - played by Ben Cutler (Warren in Eastenders).
Freya Kipling & Ben Cutler
Very convincing as a couple, they kiss as brilliantly as a loving couple would, and by the interval you’re really hoping that nothing sinister could befall them. Even so, they are the ones who’ve purchased a very rare painting at a car boot sale, they are now the centre of attention
Of course the villains of the piece seem capable of anything and Jodie Steele, playing Roberta Kilmore certainly finds her inner demon, and for me it is a sign of great acting when you really don’t like the character portrayed on stage.
The same can be said for her employer, the odious Stuart Piper, played by Nicholas Maude. As the story develops the darker he becomes, and his obsession for possessing art outweighs his sense of reason.
Nicholas Maude and Jodie Steele
And central to the story is forger turned copyist Dave Hegarty, played by Peter Ash (Coronation Street) and based on real life forger turned copyist David Henty.
Ash gives the character a lovely endearing quality that is tested to the limit as the story unfurls, you definitely hope he ends up on the right side, but you just never can tell.
And linking this all together is George Rainsford as DSI Roy Grace, and you may well know him as Ethan Hardy in Casualty.
Cool, calm and collected, maybe too collected for a man who has uncovered many crimes and potentially one wrecked marriage, Rainsford assembles the palette of clues while guiding us through the sordid world of fine art and sharp dealings.
George Rainsford & Gemma Stroyan
Ably assistant by DS Bella Moy, played by Gemma Stroyan who returns to the character she originated on stage.
If you love a good whodunnit you won’t be disappointed. If you haven’t had a thought about fine art you’ll think again, it is a murky world at best, where ownership of amazing works becomes an obsession that deprives the public of art for the sake of greed.
And then there are the copyists such as our forger. As skilled as a Master, yet bereft of the ability to create something original.
Unlike Peter James who has taken a glimmer of an idea and turned it into a very entertaining play that will hang above the mantlepiece of your mind for some time to come.
Book your seats here - mayflower.org.uk
You can hear an interview with Jodie Steel here
