Murder In The Dark opens with a thriller cliché: a car crash in an isolated rural village on New Year’s Eve, with no public transport due to snow and passengers forced to stay overnight in a creepily dilapidated farmhouse. The similarities to the preeminent whodunit, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, are accentuated with the spooky three-note motif of the song Three Blind Mice occasionally emanating from the TV; however, in Torben Bett’s play nothing is quite as it seems, no-one is quite who we think they are, and this story is anything but predictable.
Events are set in motion when middle-aged former teen idol Danny (Tom Chambers) and his young girlfriend Sarah (Laura White) arrive at the remote old farmhouse. Mrs Bateman, the mysterious, fairly sinister widowed farmer’s wife, has offered them accommodation in the creepy old building. After the rest of the passengers arrive, a series of mysterious and ghostly happenings lead us to believe that something seriously scary is afoot.
Under Philip Frank’s direction, the whole Murder In The Dark cast is outstanding. Susie Blakes gives a stellar performance as Mrs. Bateman, combining humour with a sinister underbelly, and Tom Chambers is perfect as the faded boyband singer with the shiny suit, alcohol addiction and predictably younger woman on his arm with a resentful ex-wife and son in the background: a walking midlife crisis with a shadowy past.
What makes this production truly terrifying is the brilliant use of ominous lighting, eerie sound and spectacularly versatile set design. The farmhouse appears at one minute a cosy and inviting space, the next a desolate and haunted backyard. The audience is reminded at the start that no spoilers should be shared with future audiences, but suffice it to say this is a unique, mind-bending thriller that will keep you in terrified suspense till the final scene.
Murder In The Dark, New Theatre, Cardiff, Tue 27 Feb
On until Sat 2 Mar. Tickets: £24-£40. Info: here
words SARAH EDWARDS
