Works by Francis Durbridge have often featured in Nottingham’s annual Classic Thriller Season. Some theatregoers may feel disappointed if a season’s line-up doesn’t include one of the Yorkshire-born playwright’s seven stage plays. So it’s good to see Fatal Encounter revived after a ten-year absence.
Durbridge’s final play was published in 2002, four years after his death. Karen Henson, who directs for Tabs Productions, takes the action back to the late 1960s.
As the curtain rises, the distinctive, rousing theme tune from the television spy series Danger Man booms through the speakers, setting the tone for what turns out at times to be a spine-tingling experience.
The play features book publisher Howard Mansfield becoming concerned about his wife, Joanna, who is unusually distressed and furtive.
After Joanna is mugged, her stolen handbag amazingly turns up intact on the doorstep of their Holland Park home. When Perry Kingsley, the husband of Joanna’s friend Grace, is shot in a struggle with Joanna, Howard takes the blame to protect his wife. Intrigue, blackmail, threats and mystery abound along with several red herrings in what is a complex but easy-to-understand plot.
Making his first appearance of the 2024 season, John Goodrum gives a commanding performance as Howard. Goodrum can convey so much with a look: surprise, frustration, concern, bafflement.
The shortness of rehearsal time meant on occasions on press night he referred to police inspector Chris Coldwell as “he” instead of “she”, a slip that some sections of the audience were quick to point out.
That was because Coldwell is played by a woman, a gender swap by director Henson which enabled some of the play’s sexist lines to be jettisoned. As few chief inspectors were female in the 1960s, it gives greater depth to the part. Sarah Wynne Kordas adds severity and sternness in some scenes while also showing sympathy for the predicament faced by the other females. She gives an excellent performance, so different from her portrayal of Margaret Craddock the previous week in Murdered to Death.
Five other actors who were cast in Peter Gordon’s parody have roles in Fatal Encounter, each relishing the opportunity to portray a totally different character. Hannah Blaikie is just as proficient playing nervy, secretive Joanna as she was upper-class Elizabeth Hartley-Trumpington. Hugely experienced Jeremy Lloyd Thomas, blustering, forgetful Colonel Charles Craddock in Murdered to Death, becomes art dealer Mark Adler who is not all he seems.
Pavan Maru, a foil for Inspector Pratt as Constable Thompkins the previous week, revels in his role as Perry Kingsley, the suave charmer with his own agenda. David Osmond, French art dealer Pierre Marceau in Murdered to Death, easily transforms into young, malleable thug Rex Winter while Susan Earnshaw, a dignified but somewhat frustrated widow the previous week, is just as credible as Hilary Van Zale, the MP’s wife who is distraught about her husband’s ill-advised behaviour.
Kia Pope, whose thriller season debut was in 2023, takes her first role in the current programme, playing lovelorn Grace Kingsley with grace and class.
One of the action scenes could be slicker, although a confrontation towards the end is remarkably impressive.
Francis Durbridge may have been forgotten by some people but this clever, detailed production of Fatal Encounter proves this play can genuinely be defined as a classic thriller.