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Dark Road

Alfred Chalmers is a serial killer who has spent 25 years in prison for the horrific and gruesome murders of four young girls in Edinburgh. Read more …

Isobel McArthur, Scotland’s first Chief Constable, was one of the team responsible for putting Alfred away all those years ago. But his conviction has always haunted her. Approaching retirement, and hungry for answers, Isobel decides to review the case and meet Chalmers in prison, unaware that her own daughter – the ambitious and promiscuous Alexandra – has struck up her own bizarre and disturbing relationship with the killer.

This is top Scots crime writer Ian Rankin’s debut stage play, co-written and directed by the Lyceum’s Artistic Director, Mark Thomson. Tense, tough and gritty it brings the brilliance of Rankin’s story telling sharply into focus as a gripping psychological battle of wit and will is played out between Chalmers and McArthur.


The critical consensus

Thomson draws out a set of ferocious performances in a pacy production that papers over the more implausible corners of the plot and the clunkier passages of exposition.

***(*)(*)Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 29/09/2013

What does work - and with a vengeance - is the play’s ending. The occasionally tortured elements of script, recording and internalised daydream are fully justified in a finale that builds on all Beattie’s hard work to leave you gasping at its audacity.

Thom Dibdin, The Stage, 30/09/2013

There’s quite a bit to recommend here, including a great cast, a stunningly ambitious rotating pedestal of sets designed by Francis O’Connor and a whodunit reveal which is typically Rankin, satisfyingly obvious and unexpected all at once.

***(*)(*)David Pollock, The Independent, 30/09/2013

Dark Road is a gripping and chilling piece of psychological drama, paced expertly by its creators and brought to life both by an accomplished cast and striking design.

****(*)Edinburgh Spotlight, 29/09/2013

Its admittedly compelling brutality might verge on melodrama, but it serves to reiterate the play’s themes of familial loyalty to breathtaking – and shattering – effect.

***(*)(*)David Kettle, The Edinburgh Reporter, 01/10/2013

It is a crime story--and excellent entertainment indeed.

****(*)Mure Dickie, Financial Times, 01/10/2013

In a writing career spanning two decades, Rankin’s Dark Road teeters at that crossroads of modern era and golden age, warning us that for all the material world changes, human nature remains the same.

***(*)(*)Callum Madge, TVBomb, 30/09/2013

The overall verdict?: Dark Road is certainly an entertaining, psychological crime drama led by two convincing, quietly emotional performances from Beattie and Whitchurch, with a pretty powerful punch of an ending.

***(*)(*)Vivien Devlin, Edinburgh Guide, 02/10/2013

This is an ambitious production that succeeds on many levels. Not least in its appeal to Ian Rankin’s existing fans.

***(*)(*)Hugh Simpson, All Edinburgh Theatre, 29/09/2013

Not even the best efforts of Beattie and a fine supporting cast can save this criminally misjudged experiment from itself.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 03/10/2013

In terms of narrative and style, though, this show gradually fades into a silly, sensational mess, with nothing to say, and a peculiarly graceless way of saying it; time to lower the curtain, and move on.

**(*)(*)(*)Joyce McMillan, 30/09/2013

Neither designer Francis O’Connor – whose revolving set looks, inevitably, cluttered and cumbersome – nor a strong cast can prevent the murder of the audience’s hopes and expectations.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage (Sunday Herald), 08/10/2013


Features about Dark Road

The Dark Road Rushes--One

Jo Rush, All Edinburgh Theatre, 26/08/2013

The Dark Road Rushes--Two

Jo Rush, All Edinburgh Theatre, 03/09/2013

The Dark Road Rushes--Three

Jo Rush, All Edinburgh Theatre, 09/09/2013

The Dark Road Rushes--Four

Jo Rush, All Edinburgh Theatre, 16/09/2013

The Dark Road Rushes--Five

Jo Rush, All Edinburgh Theatre, 24/09/2013

Edinburgh Lyceum's Mark Thomson discusses Dark Road, the first play by Ian Rankin

Gareth K Vile, The List, 17/09/2013

Ian Rankin on why he's working on a new stage play

Claire Black, The Scotsman, 22/09/2013

Preview: Dark Road, Lyceum Theatre

Keith D, Edinburgh Spotlight, 25/09/2013

The Dark Road Rushes--Six

Jo Rush, All Edinburgh Theatre, 28/09/2013

The Dark Road Rushes--Seven

Jo Rush, All Edinburgh Theatre, 28/09/2013

Where and when?

Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Wednesday September 25, 2013, until Saturday October 19, 2013. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk

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