A Game Called Malice: A Rebus Play

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Rebus: A Game Called Malicewill be directed bythe award-winning Robin Lefevre(who has worked extensively in the UK, Ireland and the United States); designed byTerry Parsons(who has designed 37 productions in London’s West End including Grease, Dominion Theatre and Singin’ In The Rain, The London Pallladium ); with lighting design byMatthew Eagland( The Life I Lead, Park Theatre and Wyndham’s Theatre); and joining them is composer and sound designerGarth McConaghie ( Derry Girls, Channel 4). On the fieldJuly seems to have been designated as white ball month, with enjoyable ODI & T20 series between England and both Sri Lanka & Pakistan. Complete domination against Sri Lanka was spoiled by Bristolian rain (*shakes fist*), but it was the ODI series against Pakistan that was the most satisfying; England had to pretty […] The Hundred: Initial Reaction This is a show that will probably be more pleasing for those who already have some kind of a relationship with the Rebus universe, as you get the added satisfaction of recognising some of the references (whether it’s the name of a former colleague, or something related to Rebus’ past), however it definitely stands alone well enough for you to go in blind. It certainly taps into the zeitgeist, as crime & detective fiction is still incredibly popular, and provides an alternative to the dominance of Agatha Christie stage productions. Simon Reade is a renowned adaptor. His extensive stage adaptations include Pride & Prejudice (Regent’s Park/Guthrie Minneapolis), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (TMA Award winner), Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Ted Hughes’s Tales From Ovid – both for the Royal Shakespeare Company where he was Literary Manager. Reade has also been Literary Manager for London’s Gate Theatre, Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic, and has worked as a development producer for Tiger Aspect Productions and BBC Drama. It’s funny how writers can so competently & confidently write about subjects in which they have no expertise, managing to make it seem like they’re highly qualified – but then fall apart when they decide that one of their characters has to be an influencer or have some other vague interest in social media. The things these characters say just never quite sound natural, yet the remarks from the older generation that they’re trying to explain the whole concept to sound very familiar indeed… Candida (you already guessed it was her, didn’t you?) does at least develop and become slightly less predictable after her clunky introduction, but it’s clear that playwrights have now moved on from the obligatory selfie (that’s so 2010s) to the obligatory influencer to confirm modernity.

Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow. He is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award, and he received two Dagger Awards for the year's best short story and the Gold Dagger for Fiction. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, and Edinburgh. This is a show that will probably be more pleasing for those who already have some kind of a relationship with the Rebus universe, as you get the added satisfaction of recognising some of the references (whether it’s the name of a former colleague, or something related to Rebus’ past), however it definitely stands alone well enough for you to go in blind. It certainly taps into the zeitgeist, as crime & detective fiction is still incredibly popular, and provides an alternative to the dominance of Agatha Christie stage productions. Rebus: A Game Called Malice

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It’s funny how writers can so competently and confidently write about subjects in which they have no expertise, managing to make it seem like they’re highly qualified – but then fall apart when they decide that one of their characters has to be an influencer or have some other vague interest in social media. The things these characters say just never quite sound natural, yet the remarks from the older generation that they’re trying to explain the whole concept to sound very familiar indeed… Candida (you already guessed it was her, didn’t you?) does at least develop and become slightly less predictable after her clunky introduction, but it’s clear that playwrights have now moved on from the obligatory selfie (that’s so 2010s) to the obligatory influencer to confirm modernity.

Rebus: A Game Called Malicewill be directed bythe award-winning Robin Lefevre, with design byTerry Parsons, lighting byMatthew Eagland, and composition and sound by Garth McConaghie.= Theatre is clearly a lifelong passion for Forbes, he tells me it means "everything" to him. "It's been my life and continues to be my life and hopefully continues to be my life". Though clarifies that "family is everything too". Forbes has enjoyed success on stage and screen "interestingly last year I did a bit more TV again which I hadn't done for a while and I was really enjoying TV again but theatre is something I've always loved. I love the fact you are a part of a team, it can be quite solitary when working on TV or film whereas in the theatre you're very much a part of the team. You are instantly reacting with the audience and it's the best thing in the world."I will stop there as I don’t want to give any further details or clues and spoil the ending. I will however say that in this mystery the Butler definitely didn’t do it because there isn’t one! On that subject, I normally don’t approve of an interval being forced into a show whose performance lasts only around 90 minutes, as it generally interrupts the flow and takes you out of the moment; it just about works in this case, though, as the first act ends on a natural cliffhanger and it gives the audience a chance to regroup & talk theories. Perhaps having Rebus briefly break the fourth wall at the beginning of the second act (as he does at the very start and end of the play) might have made the restart a little more theatrical, and further justified the intermission.

It's not exactly Glass Onion, it's crystal thistle" is how actor Forbes Masson opens as he describes Ian Rankin and Simon Reade's new stage play Rebus: A Game Called Malice which he's currently rehearsing ahead of a run at Queen's Theatre Hornchurchthis February. During Act 2, John Rebus digs a little deeper into the history of each of the guests, slowly discovering a motive for each to have committed this crime. The play finishes, as it began, with John Rebus once again breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience before leaving the stage. A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, and opted to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons. The cast of Rebus: A Game Called Malice includes John Michie, Rebecca Charles, Billy Hartman, Emily Joyce, Forbes Masson and Emma Noakes.DI John Rebus has retired, but his mind is never far from the job – even when he’s been invited as a plus one to a swanky dinner party. Rebus: A Game Called Malice takes the detective off the streets of Edinburgh and into the realms of Agatha Christie’s famous sleuths; this new play (currently in a short run at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch) has been written by Ian Rankin and Simon Reade, and sees John Michie follow in the footsteps of John Hannah and Ken Stott as the titular character. Ian Rankin's Rebus character has now spanned 24 books and TV adaptations with Ken Stott and John Hannah playing the role but this new story has been written exclusively for the stage. "Rebus is such a popular character. It's great that the novelist has done it himself. I met Ian once, centuries ago at The Everyman in Liverpool, he came to see King Lear when I was doing the film with Pete Postlethwaite. This is a new play, Robin Lefevre is directing and it's a great cast with John Michie playing Rebus."