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Rebus: A Game Called Malice

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Three stars

As Ian Rankin’s ever expanding Inspector Rebus universe runs on apace, after twenty-four novels, with a twenty-fifth due any day now, and with the latest TV adaptation by Gregory Burke still fresh, the toughest case to crack for Rankin and his unreconstructed hero so far has been theatre.

 

Following Rona Munro’s adaptation of a new Rebus story in 2018 with Long Shadows, this latest effort sees Rankin collaborate with playwright Simon Reade on an inspired wheeze that has a whole lot of fun with classic murder mystery fare. In Loveday Ingram’s production originally seen at Cambridge Arts Theatre, Rebus moves upmarket to an Edinburgh New Town dinner party where money talks the loudest, however it was acquired.

 

Gray O’Brien’s louche Rebus is the unexpected plus one of Abigail Thaw’s lawyer Stephanie Jeffries at a murder mystery night hosted by Teresa Banham’s Harriet and her second husband Paul, played with pukka largesse by Neil McKinven. Also at the table are Billy Hartman’s gambling kingpin Jack Fleming and his influencer girlfriend Candida. She may be glued to her phone, but, as brought to life by Jade Kennedy, Candida isn’t nearly as dumb as some of her posher guests might think.

The first half unravels the complex connections of assorted guests lives in a dense and at times hard to keep up with gossip about old lags, bent coppers and dodgy dealers. Once the inevitable happens, Rankin and Reade put Rebus at the centre of an Agatha Christie styled class war, albeit here with a far smaller body count and some very good one-liners.

 

As O’Brien occasionally breaks the fourth wall as Rebus to update the audience with the theatrical equivalent of a hardboiled film noir voiceover, it gives our hero another shot onstage in a homage of sorts to an entire history of pulp fiction in all its creaky glory. 


The Herald, September 12th 2024

 

ends

 







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