(seen at the afternoon performance on 15th April 2026)
Almost nothing remains of the 1992 movie. As adaptor Rebecca Reid notes in the programme, today’s social media and economic situation would leave too many gaping holes in the backstory.
So, the whole thing is transferred to one of those anonymous horrible cheap new-build apartments in the UK, where nothing works properly and the management don’t care.
Allie (Lisa Faulkner) has divorced Sam (Jonny McGarrity) and moved down the hall from her business partner Graham (Andro). She now shares with her daughter Bella (Amy Snudden).
Sam has met and got pregnant a much younger woman, and will be halving his maintenance payments for Bella. To make up the shortfall, Allie decides to rent a room to photographer Hedy (Kym Marsh).
Bella is having a hard time fitting in at her snooty private school. Hedy manipulates the situation to become her confidant. She also drives wedges between Allie, Sam and Graham and begins to imitate Allie’s lifestyle. The iconic stilettos playing a key part…
Director Gordon Greenberg keeps it smooth, playing so quickly that the thrown in “made you jump” moments are seldom given time to land.
Morgan Large’s set is centred around a pea-green sofa with giant pea shaped cushions. Kitchen to the right, sliding doors to bedrooms behind. Shelves and modern art prints clinging to the walls. Large window that shouldn’t be opened, and structural cracks everywhere.
A baby incubator in a room above is symbolic, puncturing the otherwise ongoing bland and downbeat mood.
Throw in Lighting Designer Jason Taylor’s flickering lamps and mood-evoking multiple strip-lights framing the stage during scene changes, plus Max Pappenheim’s grinding machinery soundscape, and the depression is complete.
Lisa Faulkner gets the broadest character arc, and makes the most of it. Her story improvisations grow wilder, yet she manages to add small details which often convince us despite all evidence to the contrary.
Kym Marsh does initially what she does best, a strong Northern mother role. Adding also business entrepreneur to her range is highly successful, extending it and bringing vital contrasting energy. Thus Faulkner only seems incongruous when Marsh demonstrates a real working life.
Daughter Bella is vulnerable between the pair. Amy Snudden is actually 25, but channels fifteen-year-old insecurity with conviction.
Elaborate parting banter with her mother becomes chilling when spoken by Allie, as Snudden’s Bella needs both independence and support. In her life betrayals are never offset by the triumphs, her final moment a neat twist demanding a sequel.
Orbiting the women, both male roles are somewhat underwritten. McGarrity has more stage time as Bella’s father, an addict whose back story is sketched in between main scenes. Irritatingly, it serves mostly as a device to amplify Allie’s scheming rather than drive the story.
Likewise, business partner Graham is introduced mainly to set up conflict. As with McGarrity, Andro is more than confident in his role. Both men handle the climactic Shakespearean ending, in particular, with immaculate timing that lends credibility.
Which is the crux of the whole show. Not quite as clever as hit “2:22 A Ghost Story,” but neatly updated to reflect today’s reality for many, with a fun whiff of incongruity to enjoy the hokier bits.
Exactly the light and diverting little thriller needed to tour in the hard to sell late Spring and early summer, it is worth a trip to your local theatre for.
3 stars.
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