OPERA HOUSE
Written by Ian Rankin
Adapted by Rona Munro
Directed by Robin Lefevre
It is just over thirty years since Ian Rankin published the first of a long series of crime books set in Edinburgh and featuring John Rebus as the dour detective. Although successfully adapted for television this is the first time the character has stepped on to a stage. Rankin created this new story for the now retired detective and opted to develop it for the stage with award winning Scottish playwright Rona Munro. The result is an entertaining play that is low on action and gore but delivers a beautifully reflective insight into the mind of a retired detective who is adrift without his career and who is haunted by the victims of unsolved crimes.
Charles Lawson delivers a strong performance as Rebus. He truly embodies the crumpled, slightly arthritic aging man whose curmudgeonly nature ensures his best friend is his whisky bottle. This is a performance which is a slow burner, opening with a weary, brow beaten man and culminating in a powerhouse performance when he is challenged by his nemesis ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty. The scenes between the two men are the standout moments in this performance. John Stahl steals the show when the action shifts to his penthouse apartment near The Meadows. Monarch of all he surveys. He exudes suave cunning and all the smugness of a crime boss who believes himself untouchable by the law. It is a fascinating moment watchin them try to outwit each other as they square up like aging prize fighters The interplay between the two men is nuanced and well crafted highlighting the grit and the vulnerabilities of both men.
Sadly the character development of the female lead is not as satisfying. Cathy Tyson is a gifted actress and seems well cast in the part of detective Siobhan, yet it feels frustrating that so much of her dialogue is process driven and rather dull. The writing needs to reveal more of who she is and what has established her strong relationship with Rebus for her character to have the relevance it has in the books and television series. The other female characters portray the ghostly reminders of crime that haunt the misty Edinburgh streets and the whisky addled dark reaches of Rebus’ memory. As a plot device they perhaps too often but do evoke a tangible sense of tragic loss and wasted lives.
Ti Green has designed a suitably gloomy set with creepy archways and soaring walkways that would look equally at home on the stage of the current National Theatre production of Macbeth. Deceptively simple it smartly shifts from dank flat to gleaming penthouse via a police evidence room filled with ghosts. Although the staging does not clearly evoke Rankin’s beloved Edinburgh it is a successful backdrop to the production. The lighting also serves to further the gloomy and spectral feel that ensures the aging Rebus seems suspended between his twilight years and a netherworld of dead victims with stories to tell.
The central story feels slightly tentative, as though a work in progress feeling out what a theatre audience might expect of Rebus. The most powerful aspects of this production are the cerebral and emotional connections which Director Robin Lefevre draws out between the two complex male leads. This is a big, wordy play with some exciting and engaging speeches and well paced exchanges, reminding me why I so loved Monro’s The James Plays. Given the rather open ending to this story, I suspect Rebus will be returning to thread the boards and solve more crimes.
Opera House 30th Oct – 3rd Nov
Touring production
Images by Robert Day
Live Art Alive 