17 – 21 March

The 1980s and early 1990s was a golden age for cinema’s erotic psychological thriller genre. 1987’s Fatal Attraction was perhaps the most famous of these, its commercial and critical success inspiring multiple similar offerings, most notably Basic Instinct and Single White Female, both released in 1992. The latter, based on John Lutz’s 1990 novel SWF Seeks Same was quickly adapted into a film starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Despite modest critical success, the film’s popularity has seen it become a cult classic, adding the phrase “single white female” and its sinister connotations into our cultural lexicon in much the same way as “bunny-boiler” did for Fatal Attraction.

Theatres on touring circuits across the country are currently full of screen-to-stage adaptations. This recent renaissance is perhaps understandable even if it reflects a dearth of new writing: reimaginings of established titles are likely to have a ready-made audience who are perhaps nostalgic for films and television series of yore whilst also keen to see how they are adapted to fit a modern context. To that end, director Gordon Greenberg and adaptor Rebecca Reid have transposed nineties New York to contemporary England. Of course, so much has changed in 34 years, and whilst this is an adaptation that leans heavily into social media and the role technology now plays in all our lives, as Reid suggests, “…much of the human condition remains totally unchanged” which is why this version successfully speaks to our collective fears and anxieties about identity, friendship and acceptance.

Kym Marsh and Lisa Faulkner are familiar faces, having graced our small screens in many guises over the last thirty years. Marsh turns in an excellent performance as Hedy, the new flatmate to Faulkner’s hard-working single mum Allie who takes in a lodger to make ends meet when her unreliable ex-husband, (Jonny McGarrity), lets her down. Marsh has form for such theatrical roles, having played the psychotic Alex Forrest in the stage adaptation of, yes, Fatal Attraction in 2022. Her confidence and stage presence is therefore perhaps no surprise. Faulkner’s professional milieu is television rather than stage. It shows. The mononymic Andro gets most of the best lines as Allie’s best friend and neighbour, Graham, whereas Amy Snudden threatens to steal the show with a startlingly realistic impression of a fifteen year-old schoolgirl, in this case Bella, Allie’s daughter, who becomes the focus of Hedy’s menacing obsession.

The somewhat predictable but engaging drama which unfolds does so in a simple “locked room” set comprising a claustrophobic open plan apartment which unfortunately does not quite fit behind the Everyman’s slightly narrower Proscenium arch, leading to a restricted view from many seats, a real shame given that some of the key action takes place far stage right. The usual generic thriller conventions are all present: the unreliable wiring, the flickering lighting, the picture of Bella which keeps falling off the wall. Yet rather than employing an evocative, ominous soundtrack to help ramp up the tension a few notches, Max Pappenheim’s sound direction eschews this in favour of rather incongruous and abrupt musical interludes during the blackout scene transitions, a nod to a more contemporary audience who might be familiar with Radiohead, Slipknot and Lizzo, but sadly these are so abrupt that they add little to the drama, dissipating rather than fuelling any tension. However, there is some effective use of subtle lighting, most notably in illuminating at poignant intervals a bassinet suspended above the stage which reinforces the play’s central theme of mother-daughter relationships.

Despite a couple of unintended comic moments, this is creditable thriller which makes for an enjoyable watch, not least for Marsh’s murderous metamorphosis as Hedy.

★★★☆☆    Tony Clarke    18 March 206 

Photography credit: Chris Bishop