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). As we take our seats in the auditorium, it is clear Terry Parsons has done an excellent job with the set design. We are presented on stage with the scene from a very elegant dining room with lots of pictures hanging from every wall. We are given the feeling that this is a very large old house complete with very high ceilings and the owner clearly is very rich. The cast of Rebus: A Game Called Malice includes John Michie, Rebecca Charles, Billy Hartman, Emily Joyce, Forbes Masson and Emma Noakes. Michie will be joined by Rebecca Charles ( The Dresser, Theatre Royal Bath and The Father, Duke of York Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre); Billy Hartman (best known for playing the part of Terry Woods on ITV’s Emmerdale); Emily Joyce (best known for playing Janet Dawkins in BBC One’s My Hero); Forbes Masson (best known for his classical theatre roles and comedy partnership with Alan Cumming – The High Life, BBC Two); and Emma Noakes (best known for BBC One’s Call The Midwife and leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company).

The play begins with Rebus, a retired policeman, at an intimate dinner party for 6 and with the guests having just finished their meal, the play freezes. John Rebus, played by John Michie (probably best known for starring in Coronation Street, Holby City & Taggart), breaks down the fourth wall and introduces himself and the rest of the characters to the audience. This is cleverly directed by Robin Lefevre and is played out by Rebus pausing the music playing during the dinner party and a change of lighting. As act two begins, the focus has moved from the fictional murder 'whodunnit' to the real-life murder that has taken place in the house with all the guests becoming suspects. As is the case with all good mysteries, there are a few red herrings to try and throw us off the scent before the story unfolds.

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Playing the lead role of John Rebus is John Michie, best known for his roles as DI Robbie Ross in STV’s Taggart, as Karl Munro in ITV’s Coronation Street and as Guy Self in BBC One’s Holby City. Playing the lead role of John Rebus isJohn Michie ( Holby City, BBC), alongside Rebecca Charles( The Father, West End),Billy Hartman( Emmerdale, ITV );Emily Joyce( My Hero, BBC);Forbes Masson( The High Life, BBC);andEmma Noakes( Call The Midwife, BBC).

Now, this isn’t your typical murder mystery; I’m notoriously not great at getting all the way to the solution in detective fiction (I work best with hunches and a bit of circumstantial evidence) – however, this is definitely a case that can only really be solved by someone on the stage rather than anyone sat in the audience, so don’t go in hoping to best DI Rebus. It is interesting how it spreads out from the original game scenario and brings in incidents from the characters’ lives, though it maybe overcomplicates the tangled web for a show with a relatively short running time, and means that suspense is rather overlooked in favour of wrapping everything up.The play centres on the dinner party and I posed Forbes the age-old question of who would be his dream guests to join him for one. "I'm so boring, I'm such a theatre-type person, so I'd probably have lots of theatre people. Actors of the past and of the present mixing together. Dull, a busman's holiday" he jokes. 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. Describing the show in 3 words Forbes says "Mystery, intrigue and revelation. Though it should be McMystery because it's set in Scotland". This turns our chat to being a Scot in a play set in his homeland. "At the moment I'm trying to find something that is not so Falkirk which is where I'm from. I have been watching a lot of Fraser Nelson. I'm really interested in these people who try and hide, very unsuccessfully, their accents."

Catch Jon (with no’H’) every Thursday from 9am for three hours of The Best of Stage & Screen right here on Box Office RadioForbes's first taste of theatre came "when I was at primary school when a troop of performers came into our assembly hall and built a stage, I don't even know what it was but I remember them being in the school and thinking this was amazing and being really taken by it. In later years I took an RSC production of The Taming of the Shrew into schools and I felt that it was doing what inspired me when I was young and that was fun." 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. \ Michie will be joined byRebecca Charles( The Dresser, Theatre Royal Bath and The Father, Duke of York Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre);Billy Hartman(best known for playing the part of Terry Woods on ITV’s Emmerdale);Emily Joyce(best known for playing Janet Dawkins in BBC One’s My Hero);Forbes Masson(best known for his classical theatre roles and comedy partnership with Alan Cumming – The High Life, BBC Two);andEmma Noakes(best known for BBC One’s Call The Midwife and leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company). 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. If you like a good murder mystery that is well written with great characters and some good humour thrown in for good measure superbly performed by the cast, then this is a perfect way to spend a couple of hours at the theatre.

With the rise of True Crime documentaries, TV shows like Line of Duty, and hit films like Knives Out and the recent sequel Glass Onionit feels somewhat like a renaissance time for the genre "It seems to be doesn't it. I watched the first Knives Out with my kids and we all watched Glass Onion over Christmas. It's brilliant. Everything is so shit at the moment and people want escapism and that's why there are so many musicals around. A play that is a whodunnit makes you try and work something out and you're active. It takes you away from thinking about everyday life." 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. 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." Queen’s Theatre Hornchurchwill open its Spring 2023 season with the world premiere of Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s Rebus: A Game Called Malice, running from 2 – 25 February. Playing the lead role of John Rebus is John Michie, best known for his roles as DI Robbie Ross in STV’s Taggart, as Karl Munro in ITV’s Coronation Street and as Guy Self in BBC One’s Holby City. 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