The third production of the Eastbourne Season is also the UK première of this new play by accomplished American playwright, David Foley. He was present on opening night having arrived from Vienna where the same play had its European première. In his home country it has received widespread acclaim for reviving that most potent and long-established of theatrical genres, the thriller.
Ian Marr, directing his first play of this type, is successful in keeping the audience on the edge of its seat thanks to a masterly script which twists and turns as the performance gathers pace. Set in a converted loft in New York's fashionable Soho (although if this had, instead, been a swanky apartment in London's Docklands it would have dispensed with the actors struggling sometimes to maintain their transatlantic accents) authentically depicted in Julie Godfrey's uncluttered set.
Camille Dargus, a wealthy jewellery designer, has reached the stage in life where she is used to her own way. This includes spending the night with a man of her choice. Echoing Sex And The City she selects a waiter, Billy, from the party she was attending and when their fling is over tells him it is time to go. Despite the offer of cash, he refuses. Experienced in handling awkward situations and facing the threat of blackmail, his hidden camera has recorded their intimate activities, she sends for Ted, her trusted security guard. But he, it turns out, has collaborated with Billy and from thereon the plot thickens.
Karen Drury (Camille), Kevin Pallister (Billy) and Steven Pinder (Ted) are convincing as the trio who play out this murderous, literally, game of blind man's buff which ultimately reveals suppressed family infidelities and long-hidden skeletons. "Sometimes", says Camille, "you just can't escape."
But you will have to see this thrilling play to find out
why.