A Judgement In Stone

Adapted from one of the most celebrated works of the writer often hailed as the successor to Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell’s A Judgement In Stone was performed at Leeds Grand Theatre last week by the Classic Thriller Theatre Company.

Rendell was first published in 1964 and was awarded a CBE in 1996. Her prolific output included film and TV as well as 80 novels and one of the genre’s most famous characters, Chief Inspector Wexford. Widely considered to be one of Rendell’s greatest works, A Judgement in Stone is loved for its brilliant rendering of character, plot and motive, and is undoubtedly Rendell at her thrilling best.

Eunice struggles to fit in. When she joins a wealthy family as their housekeeper the very reason for her awkwardness, long hidden and deeply buried, leads inexorably to a terrible tale of murder in cold blood - on Valentine’s Day. Ruth Rendell’s brilliant plot unravels a lifetime of deceit, despair and cover-ups which, when revealed, brings a shocking revelation almost as grizzly as murder itself.

I am a great fan of murder mysteries and have seen many over the years, but this has got to be one of the best in recent years. It is very well dramatized switching between the investigation being carried out by Detective Superintendent Vetch and Detective Sergeant Challoner interviewing various characters and flashbacks to the past showing what had happened in the weeks and months preceding the quadruple murder that had been carried out at Lowfield Hall owned by George and Jacqueline Coverdale. These flashbacks are very important as it leaves the audience pondering which characters have various motives for carrying out this heinous crime.

All the cast played their parts extremely well and it is difficult to single out individuals but I must give a big plaudit to Sophie Ward as Eunice, the housekeeper to the Coverdales. Sophie, probably best known to the audience as Dr Helen Trent in long-running ITV drama Heartbeat, was a totally different character in this production and played the part superbly.

She was extremely well supported by Andrew Lancel (villainous Frank Foster in Coronation Street and DI Neil Manson in over 300 episodes of The Bill) as Detective Superintendent Vetch and Ben Nealon (Lt Forsythe in Soldier Soldier) as Detective Sergeant Challoner. Playing the role of George Coverdale was Mark Wynter best known as the 60s pop star with hits such as Venus in Blue Jeans and Go Away Little Girl but who has now been acting for the best part of fifty years. For a Septuagenarian he moved around the stage very well in his role as the domineering head of the Coverdale household. His wife Jacqueline was well played by Rosie Thompson and children Giles and Melinda by Joshua Price and Jennifer Sims.

Adding a great touch of humour was Deborah Grant star of the BBC’s Not Going Out, Bergerac and Roger, Roger who was superb in the role of Joan Smith, the village postmistress, and her comic dance routine with Sophie Ward at the end of the first act was one of the highlights of the production.

I never thought I would see movie star Shirley Ann Field, who enthralled cinema audiences as Tina the Beauty Queen opposite Sir Laurence Oliver in The Entertainer and also starred with Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner in The War Lover, playing the part of a cleaner, but she did this with aplomb. Also boy band Blue vocalist Anthony Costa was very plausible as the West Country village bad boy Roger Meadows.

As befits a Bill Kenwright production the set was outstanding and was every inch the stately home of a wealthy businessman. The production was extremely well directed by Roy Marsden best known as Detective Inspector Dalgleish in the TV adaptation of PD James’s books. His experience in this role has meant he has brought a wealth of crime knowledge to bear in his direction of this play which was superb.

A great night of whodunit which left the audience wondering right until the end who was the killer.