Review: Dead Simple at Newcastle Theatre Royal

The Revenge of the Stag Do

Dead Simple

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Until 30^th May 2015.

Every twist and turn of the UK’s most treasured crime and thriller writer’s classic story is brought to the stage.

Michael Harrison is a successful property developer. He is about to marry the love of his life, the beautiful Ashley, whom he met through his business. Ashley’s Uncle Bradley has come across from Canada for the wedding and he isn’t complementary about some English customs such as drinking tea.

Gray O'Brien as Detective Roy  Grace

& Tina Hobley in Dead Simple

Photo: Alastair Muir

Michael has left the arrangement of his stag do to his business partner, and best mate since school, Mark. Michael has been a bit of a prankster in the past and left grooms in embarrassing situations on their stag nights so he is concerned about what they have in store for him. Mark assures him that he has nothing to worry about but then gets called to a business meeting in Leeds. The others start the celebration without Mark but the lads’ plans start to unravel after their van crashes.

Photo: Alastair Muir

Young Davey Wheeler helps his Dad recover the vehicle from the sight of the accident and he finds a clue which could help solve a major problem: Where is Michael? The only problem is that Davey doesn’t want to admit to his Dad that he took something from the crash scene. Bride to be Ashley pleads with the police to start a search for her other half even though the time that had elapsed was quite short.

Detective Sergeant Branson decides to bring Detective Superintendent Grace on board despite his recent ridicule in the press. Grace had used a psychic called Zoe Frame to assist in a recent case and the press had used this against him.

The set is split into 3 which has enabled director Ian Talbot to keep the narrative flowing.  Mark Howett’s lighting design is able to pick out the action including the coming and going of various vehicles.   The only disappointment was the odd sound of gunfire which sounded like it was a computer game rather than a firearm.

Jamie Lomas as Michael Harrison

and Tina Hobley as Ashley Harper

in Dead Simple Photo: Alastair Muir

The talented cast are great storytellers. Award-winning soap heart throb Jamie Lomas (EastEnders, Hollyoaks) and Holby City’s Tina Hobley are fantastic as the loving couple of Michael and Ashley. Emmerdale’s Rik Makarem is convincing as the lifelong best mate, with all of the baggage that comes  with that. The police roles of Grace and Branson are confidently handled by Gray O’Brien and Marc Small.

Special mention should go to Josh Brown in his first professional theatre role as X-box playing Davey Wheeler. He had the bulk of the laughs and was a character that the audience could quickly have empathy for.

The story twists and turns in order to keep the audience guessing in a way which would make Agatha Christie proud. In a tale that draws shocks and laughter in equal measure, it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.  It is an experience which shows how the collective live theatre experience can excel over television.

Read the original North East Theatre Guide preview of Dead Simple by clicking on this link here

This review was written by Stephen Oliver for the North East Theatre Guide by Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com). Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo

Tickets:

Dead Simpleappears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tue 26 – Sat 30 May 2015 (Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinees: Wed and Thur 2.30pm).

Tickets from £14 (online price) Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 or select your own seat and book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk

Click here to be taken to the Meghann Clancy EP launch event page

Preview: Dead Simple at Newcastle Theatre Royal

STELLAR SOAP-STAR LINE

UP FOR THEATRE THRILLER

Dead Simple

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 May 2015

One of the UK’s best-selling novels, from chart-topping author Peter James, has been turned into a gripping play set to thrill audiences at Newcastle Theatre Royal next month.

Jamie Lomas as Michael Harrison

and Tina Hobley as Ashley Harper

in Dead Simple Photo: Alastair Muir

Dead Simple features an all-star cast led by Tina Hobley, who returns to the stage having graced TV screens for the last 12 years as ward sister Chrissie Williams in the BBC 1’s Holby City as well as roles in Coronation Street and Harbour Lights before that and was seen earlier this year in Celebrity Master Chef. She currently presents the prime time Sunday morning programme on Smooth Radio.

Tina leads the cast in an edge-of-your-seat plot, where a stag-do prank goes wrong, leaving the groom buried in a coffin with everyone who knows his whereabouts dead. Everyone but one person… and Detective Roy Grace must race against the clock to find that person and rescue the victim before it’s too late!

Jamie Lomas as Michael Harrison

and 'friends' in Dead Simple

Photo: Alastair Muir

Dead Simple also stars award-winning TV heartthrob, Jamie Lomas who appeared recently in EastEndersas the murderous Jake Stone and before that played bad boy Warren Fox for five years in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks. Jamie plays alongside Rik Makarem who played Nikhil Sharma in Emmerdale and previously appeared in Torchwood and Michael McKell who played Dr Nick West in Doctors as well as DC Nick Henshall in Emmerdale.

The role of the famous Detective Roy Grace is played by Gray O’Brien, the award-winning star of Coronation Street, TV series Titanic, Peak Practice and Casualtyas well as Sleuth in the West End. He will follow up his critically acclaimed performance in previous Peter James adaptation, The Perfect Murder, by playing the detective in this gripping, chilling, thriller that has all the classic suspense, twists and turns of a best-selling Peter James novel.

Peter James has gone straight in at number one in the Sunday Times bestseller charts seven times in the last four years with his Roy Grace series. The international bestselling crime thriller novelist has won numerous awards both in the UK and in the USA, Peter has sold over 15 million books of his Roy Grace series, and is published in 36 languages. Dead Simple has itself sold over 2 million copies around the word and has been a number one best seller in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Holland and Russia

Dead Simple is the second of James’ novels to be adapted for the stage and Peter said: “From the age of eight, when my parents first took me to the Theatre Royal in Brighton, it had been my dream that one day the curtains would rise in a theatre and a play of my work would be performed.  That dream came true after a chance meeting with my old friend, producer, Joshua Andrews, at a party in November 2012.  

Gray O'Brien as Detective Roy  Grace

& Tina Hobley in Dead Simple

Photo: Alastair Muir

“Josh had seen first-hand the success of the recent Agatha Christie stage productions and he joked that I was the nearest thing to a living modern day Agatha Christie – so he asked if I had any novels that I felt might adapt well to the stage. The result was the first run of The Perfect Murder, over 16 weeks from early January this year, and to my delight it played to packed houses, enthusiastic audiences and a great critical response around the country and has just started its second tour this autumn!

“It is a real thrill now for Josh and I to be launching our second collaboration, an adaptation by the brilliant Shaun McKenna, of my first Roy Grace novel, Dead Simple. It’s a tale of treachery and deceit, which seems to touch a nerve in everyone who reads it and has been one of my best-selling books to date.”

“I had myself locked in a coffin for 30 minutes as part of my research, and it was one of the scariest moments of my life. It's so many people's worst nightmare to be buried alive and I'm looking forward to recreating some of that terror in the theatres soon with another incredible cast of actors!”

Tickets:

Dead Simple appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tue 26 – Sat 30 May 2015 (Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinees: Wed and Thur 2.30pm).

Tickets from £14 (online price) Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 or select your own seat and book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk