The story of Peter James’s Wish You Were Dead (New Victoria Theatre, Woking) is simple enough. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and his family are off for a week’s holiday in France. The website (not Airbnb I hasten to add) promises a grand country pile but when they arrive the place is very different. More monstrosity than mansion. So begins their holiday from hell. This world premiere production, adapted for the stage by Shaun McKenna and directed by Jonathan O’Boyle has all the right ingredients. James is a prolific and skilled writer (the word “dead” is in the title of eighteen of his novels) and a dark comedy thriller with quirky characters should be engaging and fun but somehow this did not hang together and is undoubtedly a play of two halves with the scene-setting first act being demonstrably better than the second which fizzles out somewhat.
Characterisation and nuance are vital and key to it all. Grace played by George Rainsford who is less than convincing as a detective inspector and only occasionally flickers into dramatic life. It is also surprising when one considers his belief in the supernatural that it does not lead him to be far more interested in the spooky goings on. He is not helped by sidekick Detective Superintendent Glenn Branson, a portrayal by Leon Stewart, that is far too phlegmatic for the stage. TV yes but in a large theatre he appears to be practically bored. Ennui rather than energy. Conversely Rebecca McKinnis is a hoot as hostess Madame L’Eveque who is not what she seems and her demeanour is a delicious mix of camp conviviality and a touch of cheeky je ne sais quoi.
Meanwhile the main villain, Curtis (Clive Mantle), one time head of a Brighton mob who loves his mum (yes cliches aplenty), is a surprise…oh yes he is. Considering the scope of a supposedly dangerous, vindictive and devious gang boss who’s been plotting revenge against forever against Grace, he comes across as a one dimensional panto baddie. Mantle is a fine actor but reaches a crescendo of silliness almost immediately which leaves him nowhere to go after that and so grates on our already frayed nerves.
Michael Holt’s design is evocative and clever and has one or two tricks hidden away which have a reveal with a couple of subtle lighting changes and the tongue in cheek jokes, or “jump scares” as my companion called them, as with a last of a shotgun resulting in a mini ceiling collapse, add essential comical silliness at opportune moments but these are few and far between as the overcooked production stagnates. For a story that should be creepy, and have you on edge as the sinister aspects emerge, leaves you feeling like you are in an in between state of life and death but just not alive enough to make it good entertainment.
Wish You Were Dead – www.atgtickets.com – then on tour