Alan Ayckbourn’s 90-minute ghost-thriller, which was premiered in Scarborough in 2002, gets its London premiere in a small fringe theatre. It doesn’t feel like an Ayckbourn play. It’s the sort of thriller that might interest a French film director such as Henri-Georges Clouzot; it deserves to be better known.
Two sisters have not seen each other in 35 years. Annabel went to Tasmania and got married to a man who beat her. Miriam stayed at home, remained single, and looked after their cruel and abusive father. When Annabel returns to England on his death she is confronted by his bolshie nurse who claims Miriam quadrupled his medicine dose and pushed him down the stairs. The nurse wants £10,000 and threatens she will go to the police if she does not get it.
Lucy Bailey’s production, set in an abandoned tennis court, is suitably dark and creepily atmospheric. There are good performances by Susan Woolridge, Mossie Smith and Sarah Woodward.