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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It is a crime story--and excellent entertainment indeed.
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.
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.
This is an ambitious production that succeeds on many levels. Not least in its appeal to Ian Rankin’s existing fans.
Not even the best efforts of Beattie and a fine supporting cast can save this criminally misjudged experiment from itself.
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.
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.
The Dark Road Rushes--One
The Dark Road Rushes--Two
The Dark Road Rushes--Three
The Dark Road Rushes--Four
The Dark Road Rushes--Five
Edinburgh Lyceum's Mark Thomson discusses Dark Road, the first play by Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin on why he's working on a new stage play
Preview: Dark Road, Lyceum Theatre
The Dark Road Rushes--Six
The Dark Road Rushes--Seven
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Wednesday September 25, 2013, until Saturday October 19, 2013. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk