King’s
Theatre, Edinburgh
Three
stars
All
walls, if not cats, are grey throughout Rona Munro’s adaptation of a brand new
Inspector Rebus yarn by Ian Rankin, putting flesh and blood on the misanthropic
ex-detective’s travails through Edinburgh’s underbelly. An unplanned turn of
events shortly into the second act sees Charles Lawson, playing Rebus with
suitably crumpled swagger, taken ill. With the show halted, Neil McKinven, cast
as assorted Edinburgh low-lifes, heroically steps up with script in hand to
complete the show.
Up
until that point, the plot twists of Munro and Rankin’s yarn saw Rebus haunted
by the ghosts of unsolved murders past. These are embodied by Dani Heron and
Eleanor House’s mini chorus of murdered young women who fell prey to the sort
of men with enough power to bury them seemingly without trace. With Rebus’
former partner Siobhan Clarke now in charge, all roads lead to ‘Big Ger’
Cafferty, played with a touch of Charlie Endell Esquire menace by John Stahl.
It is Cafferty who represents that part of Edinburgh society where wealth,
privilege and criminality walk hand in glove with each other in a way that
leaves people like Cafferty untouchable.
Munro’s
script takes Rebus’ unreconstructed demeanour and has him dragged into the #MeToo age by Siobhan, played with steely
integrity by Cathy Tyson. Robin Lefrevre’s production, initiated at Birmingham
Rep, brings Rankin’s creation to life in a way that gives the Rebus fans what
they want without shutting out newcomers.
Up
until he was taken ill, Lawson’s Rebus was a masterly study in hangdog righteousness.
Picking up the mantle, even using a script McKinven grasps the lost dog
vulnerability of the role in a rare star turn on home turf. The Herald wishes
Lawson a speedy recovery, and hopes he will be back on the beat soon.
The Herald, October 12th 2018
ends
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