Eunice struggles to fit in. When she joins a wealthy family as their housekeeper the very reason for her awkwardness, long hidden and deeply buried, leads inexorably to a terrible tale of murder in cold blood - on Valentine’s Day.
Ruth Rendell’s brilliant plot unravels a lifetime of deceit, despair and cover-ups which, when revealed, brings a shocking revelation almost as grizzly as murder itself.
Ladies and gentlemen, A Judgement in Stone is coming to Milton Keynes from Monday (July 24).
The star cast includes award winning TV and stage favourite Andrew Lancel, best known to TV audiences for his portrayal of villainous business man Frank Foster in Coronation Street, winning Villain of the Year in the British Soap Awards, and as DI Neil Manson in over 300 episodes of The Bill.
Pop-idol Mark Wynter made his professional debut as a recording artist and went on to have nine Top 20 singles, including Venus in Blue Jeans and Go Away Little Girl. He has also enjoyed an acting career that has spanned nearly 50 years.
Deborah Grant has starred in the BBC’s Not Going Out, Bergerac and Roger, Roger. As well as her many TV and film appearances Deborah is a stage veteran; from her first performance on stage at the age of four, she has performed in many West End and national touring productions and starred opposite Michael Crawford in the West End debut of Barnum at the London Palladium.
Movie icon Shirley Anne Field has had a long and successful career. Her breakthrough role came when she got the part of Tina the Beauty Queen opposite Sir Laurence Oliver in The Entertainer.
Her role as Doreen in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and as the female lead in the Hollywood title The War Lover ,opposite Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner, followed.
Antony Costa shot to fame in chart topping boy band Blue in early 2000 becoming a huge commercial success in the UK and many other countries, selling 15 million records worldwide to date, including 3.3 million albums and 1 million singles in the UK alone.
On Stage Antony has starred in the lead role of Mickey Johnstone in the West End production of the long-running musical Blood Brothers, directed and produced by Bill Kenwright.
Ben Nealon is an Agatha Christie Company stalwart. On television Ben is best known as Lt Forsythe in the popular ITV award winning drama series Soldier Soldier, he also featured in the Oscar-nominated Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India.
It’s a pretty darn tight cast by any stretch of the imagination, but then it needs to be to justice to the great writer responsible.
Rendell was first published in 1964 and awarded a CBE in 1996.
Her prolific output included film and TV as well as 80 novels and one of the genre’s most famous characters, Chief Inspector Wexford.
Widely considered to be one of Rendell’s greatest works, A Judgement in Stone is loved for its brilliant rendering of character, plot and motive, and is undoubtedly Rendell at her thrilling best.
It’s not often you pay for deceit willingly, but this is one of those times!
A Judgement in Stone continues until Saturday, July 29.
Tickets start at £12.50. To book click here
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