Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth, the “ultimate game of cat and mouse where nothing is quite as it seems”, is to open Nottingham Playhouse’s Sweet Vengeance season.
The Playhouse’s artistic director Giles Croft said, “I’m delighted to be directing Sleuth. It’s a play that has always intrigued and fascinated me and I have long wanted to direct it.
“I can’t think of a play more suited to the opening of a season of revenge dramas at Nottingham Playhouse; it’s the most thrilling, funny and surprising of shows and I‘m really looking forward to staging it in Nottingham and then Leeds.”
The play is a co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse whose artistic director James Brining said, “Sleuth is a Tony Award-winning classic thriller which is ripe for a revival in Yorkshire.
“It holds the audience in an increasingly tense grip as the friendly rivalry between Andrew and Milo becomes decidedly unfriendly. We heartily welcome back director Giles Croft whose production of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner proved so popular when it came to Leeds.”
In Sleuth, Andrew Wyke is a rich and successful mystery writer whose obsession with playing games is in danger of losing him everything. Luring his wife’s lover Milo to his country pile, Andrew persuades him to take part in a specially created challenge.
Before long, their power struggle descends into a sinister and deadly duel of wits, where nothing is off limits. Investigating a missing person, Inspector Doppler attempts to untangle fact from fiction, deception from truth and murderer from victim.
The production features James Alexandrou, who played Martin Fowler in the television soap EastEnders, as Milo. He appeared in Nottingham Playhouse’s production of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front in 2008. Miles Richardson is Andrew Wyke.
Sleuth runs at Nottingham Playhouse from Friday 9 until Saturday 24 September. Press night is Tuesday 13 September. It transfers to West Yorkshire Playhouse from 28 September until 15 October.