Picture You Dead

PICTURE YOU DEAD IS A GRIPPING THRILLER FOR ALL PETER JAMES FANS OR ANYONE WHO LOVES A GREAT DRAMA!

I was first introduced to the world of DSI Roy Grace through the stage adaptation of Looking Good Dead.  I was so enthralled by the expertly woven plot twists, the thrilling and fascinating flourish into the lives of ordinary people that are thrust into extraordinary situations, that I have never looked back.  And clearly, I am not alone in my admiration and compulsion to soak up every nuance of this gripping world, for the highly successful Peter James Franchise shows no signs of slowing down.  And why would it with 20 Sunday Times best sellers, a hugely popular TV show with a new series currently airing, 6 previous stage plays, and the crown of becoming the most successful modern day crime stage franchise since Agatha Christie.  Peter James is an expert in topsy turvying everything you thought you knew and in challenging long standing preconceptions.  His work delves into the grey areas of life, captivating tales of the ordinary into the extraordinary, alluring the shimmer of goodness and honesty to dance with the jagged shards of brutality.  This world premiere tour of Picture You Dead is no exception.  It teases you into playing hide and seek with your own mind, questioning the delicate balance between what it means to be good or bad.  It is full of drama, tension, humour, and enough twists and turns to keep you talking long after the show has finished. 

Adapted for the stage by Shaun McKenna, we are thrown into the events following a car boot sale, where items that have been cast aside from someone’s story are begging to be given a fresh start and a new home.  There is always the dream of course with car boot sales that you will find the elusive item, the one that has been tossed aside by its previous owner, oblivious to the fortune they were sitting on.  This is exactly what happens to married couple Freya and Harry Kipling who can’t believe their luck when they stumble upon a priceless work of art, but a picture can tell a thousand tales, and some of them are deadly.  This piece of art is to die for, and someone out there is prepared to do what ever it takes to claim the piece as their own.  Meanwhile, DSI Grace is emersed in re-opening a cold case, solving a current murder, and dealing with a nasty attempted burglary, so when his investigations begin to blend, the brushstrokes of the supposedly unconnected crimes start to paint a dangerous picture.  With the help of now reformed convicted criminal Dave Hegarty, who is also the number one art copyist in the world, the race against time begins to solve the mysteries, stay alive, and paint a picture of a happily ever after.

The set of a Peter James play is always a joy to behold, becoming an additional intriguing character within the play, just as Brighton is in the books and TV series.  This time, the job has fallen to Adrian Linford, and he does not disappoint.  This expertly designed staging easily and clearly transports us from an art studio to a police station, via the Kipling’s home and the villainous Stuart Piper’s extensive mansion.  It beautifully tributes the real-life David Henty, who the character of Dave Hegarty is based on, by displaying his artwork with pride across the set, and it is stunning.  There are plenty of cheeky nods to our very own Lowry paintings too, which quite rightly received a warm reception.  The design is clever enough to resist sluggish set changes, ensuring the fast fired pace required of a James thriller is ever present.  Complimented with lighting by Jason Taylor that evokes purposeful emotion and secured with music and sound by Max Pappenheim, the trio create the perfect pallet to maximise atmosphere, adrenalin, and keep you on the edge of your seat.  As lights darken for Stuart Piper’s mansion, they offer a stark contrast to the bright and breezy glow of the Kipling’s home.  This is mirrored with background music, and ominous shadows help complete the subtle change in mood.     
  

Directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, this outstanding cast beguile us with charm, relax us with laughter, and catch us unaware with jump scares, psychological mind tricks and undeniable tension.  Peter Ash (Coronations Street, War Horse, Casualty) is an instant hit as copyist artist Dave Hegarty.  He is cheeky and endearing yet sparks of danger continually threaten to light his devious streak, keeping us intrigued and completely hooked to his reformed bad boy edge.  His energy is palpable throughout, even more impressive when you consider Ash is the only one to be portraying a real-life person, and that David Henty has been to watch him!  No pressure then!  George Rainsford (Casualty, 2:22 A Ghost Story, Call The Midwife) is back and once again brilliant as DSI Roy Grace, having previously played the role on stage in Wish You Were Dead.  He has a cool, calm authority and expertly guides us through the plot twists with ease.  He exudes likeability, enabling us to explicitly trust his judgement, making his performance truthful and solid.

Fiona Wade (2:22 A Ghost Story, Emmerdale, Law & Order) and Ben Cutler (War Horse, The Mousetrap, Eastenders) are endearing as Harry and Freya Kipling, with an innocent and honest chemistry that clashes beautifully against the world they find themselves in.  They are youthful, playful and represent the everyday person caught up in a world they don’t belong in.  Nicholas Maude (Private Lives, The Mousetrap, The Sound Of Music) and Jodie Steele (Six, Heather, Wicked) are wickedly delicious as villain art collectors Stuart Piper and Roberta Kilgore. Their demeanour, from the way they hold themselves, walk and talk, juxtaposes everything the Kipling’s are.  A suave and aloof arrogance drips from every word, wonderfully displaying their belief that the world is their plaything, and it better play nice or else. 

Gemma Stroyan (Lockerbie: A Search For Truth, Othello, 4 previous Peter James stage plays) as Bella Moy gives us the strong and assured confidence we have grown to love from this character, straight to the point, with no time for polite chit chat.  She is a wonderful equal to her DSI and they form a fabulous chemistry, interplaying their thoughts and conversations with ease.  Adam Morris (Drop The Dead Donkey, Maid Marion And Her Merry Men, Dial M For Murder) as Oliver De Souza, an expert on The Antiques Roadshow, brings us humour as we see him switch between his on and off-screen persona.  When the camera starts rolling, his voice and stature immediately change, upping his perceived expert knowledge to brilliantly patronising levels, and the audience lap it up.  Mark Oxtoby (Eastenders, Guys And Dolls, Phantom Of The Opera) as Archie Goff the burglar is a true Londoner, wheeling and dealing with an engaging charm so that despite his criminality, you can’t help but like him.  You find yourself championing him when things go wrong, and his performance, along with Peter Ash, are the perfect example of how nobody is just one thing.  Life is messy, people are complex, and pictures are made up of many colours.

As with any Peter James book, TV show, or stage play, Picture You Dead will keep you guessing right until the end and will leave you surmising how something that starts out so innocently can quickly develop into a dark and sinister tale, leaving you somewhat paranoid and impressed in equal measures.  It truly looks at the complexities of human nature, forcing us to accept that we are not all one thing.  We can be a good person who has done a bad thing, and equally a bad person who does nice things.  It fights against defining characters and humanity by usual constraints and that makes it infinitely interesting beyond the stage too.  It is full of everything you know and love from a Peter James story, so has a warm sense of familiarity, yet it is full of fresh ways to elicit fear, tension, and that heady mix of humour and fear, ensuring an individual piece of theatre.  This is a play for both lovers of the franchise and equally first timers too.  It is gripping for all crime fans and with exceptional creatives designing a murderer’s playground on stage, the performers are allowed to excel in their job of reeling us into a dark and dangerous world.  You can perhaps argue that Picture You Dead was always an easy sell for me as a huge fan of the franchise.  On the contrary!  I am a passionate fan who could easily be disappointed if I feel it did not live up to what I have come to expect.  So, I offer a genuine Peter James fan seal of approval to Picture You Dead.  These characters live rent free in my mind, a culmination of my own imagination from the books, and persuasion from the TV show, so for a third genre to successfully nestle its way in and impress me is no easy task, but one that has been achieved with ease.  Picture You Dead is a great night at the theatre for all thriller fans and will have you looking twice at every piece of art you come across, because you never know what is lurking behind the painting.  

WE SCORE PICTURE YOU DEAD...




Watch our "In Conversation with Peter Ash" video discussing the show