Love From A Stranger may be one of the less well known of Agatha Christie but this tense thriller about people not always being what they seem feels very relevant to today's dating scene.
The production which is running this week at Milton Keynes Theatre has been put together by Fiery Angel and the Royal & Derngate in Northampton and although there are no 'big names', the cast are experienced and convincing, writes Chris Gregg.
The sense of danger builds steadily throughout, with each scene separated by a 'freeze frame', eerie music and lighting changes as parts of the set slide sideways. This is a stylish and very creepy staging of what is a very claustraphobic play, set in a small apartment for the first act before moving to a remote country house for the climax in act two.
While Christie is best known for her murder mysteries, this is very much a thriller, which follows Cecily Harrington (played by Helen Bradbury) as she announces that she is bored with her 'safe' fiance and wants to break off her engagement and go in search of adventure.
Conveniently, she immediately meets a handsome and charming blonde American stranger, Bruce Lovell (Sam Frenchum) who sweeps her off her feet, proposing after about twenty minutes of meeting her.
She decides to abandon her old life to travel the world with him and move to a remote country cottage. But her newfound love is not all that he seems...
Sam Frenchum steals the show with a convincingly plasible portrayal of Bruce Lovell which is almost too charming as you really want to believe that he is as nice as he appears to be but he manages to remain believable as his plans unravel and he becomes increasingly irrational.
Helen Bradbury also delivers a strong performance as Cecily and her attempts to rationalise some of the unsettling things she discovers about her new husband are easy to relate to.
The full cast also includes Justin Avoth (Nigel Lawrence), Alice Haig (Mavis Wilson), Molly Logan (Ethel), Crispin Redman (Dr Gribble), Nicola Sanderson (Louise Garrard) and Gareth Williams (Hodgson).
Overall, this is a suspenseful and shocking thriller which managed to hold the attention of the press night audience, even while we knew that England were playing Colombia at the same time!
Love From A Stranger is at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 7th July.
