A Game Called Malice: A Rebus Play

Product Information

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurchwill open its Spring 2023 season with the world premiere of Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s Rebus: A Game Called Malice, running from 2 – 25 February.

Playing the lead role of John Rebus is John Michie, best known for his roles as DI Robbie Ross in STV’s Taggart, as Karl Munro in ITV’s Coronation Street and as Guy Self in BBC One’s Holby City. As we take our seats in the auditorium, it is clear Terry Parsons has done an excellent job with the set design. We are presented on stage with the scene from a very elegant dining room with lots of pictures hanging from every wall. We are given the feeling that this is a very large old house complete with very high ceilings and the owner clearly is very rich. Forbes takes on the role of Paul Godwin in the play and tells me "he's a property developer. He's clawed his way up, he's upper middle class now but I don't think he was to begin with. He's very money orientated. He's a bit of a wheeler-dealer". Simon Reade is a renowned adaptor. His extensive stage adaptations include Pride & Prejudice (Regent’s Park/Guthrie Minneapolis), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (TMA Award winner), Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Ted Hughes’s Tales From Ovid – both for the Royal Shakespeare Company where he was Literary Manager. Reade has also been Literary Manager for London’s Gate Theatre, Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic, and has worked as a development producer for Tiger Aspect Productions and BBC Drama. \ Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow. He is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award, and he received two Dagger Awards for the year's best short story and the Gold Dagger for Fiction. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, and Edinburgh.The new production is produced by Queen's Theatre Hornchurch where it premieres from the 2nd to the 25th of February 2023. "It's a really great theatre, it's welcoming and warm. What's great about Hornchurch is that it feels like a part of the community here. I come into the cafe and there are people coming in for the Dementia workshops and there are kids coming in too. It's really great to be in a theatre that is alive during the day. It shows what a theatre can be." It's not exactly Glass Onion, it's crystal thistle" is how actor Forbes Masson opens as he describes Ian Rankin and Simon Reade's new stage play Rebus: A Game Called Malice which he's currently rehearsing ahead of a run at Queen's Theatre Hornchurchthis February. A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, and opted to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

It’s funny how writers can so competently and confidently write about subjects in which they have no expertise, managing to make it seem like they’re highly qualified – but then fall apart when they decide that one of their characters has to be an influencer or have some other vague interest in social media. The things these characters say just never quite sound natural, yet the remarks from the older generation that they’re trying to explain the whole concept to sound very familiar indeed… Candida (you already guessed it was her, didn’t you?) does at least develop and become slightly less predictable after her clunky introduction, but it’s clear that playwrights have now moved on from the obligatory selfie (that’s so 2010s) to the obligatory influencer to confirm modernity. The others present are played by Rebecca Charles, Billy Hartman, Emily Joyce, Forbes Masson and Emma Noakes. The meal is over, but the wine is still flowing. The hostess has devised a murder mystery game set in a comparable stately home. The guests have their information sheets and in snippets of conversation, amongst other postprandial small-talk, they consider what have been established as the key elements of any investigation: means; motive and opportunity. Rather irritatingly they consistently refer to it as playing charades, even though they have already said it bears no resemblance to that game. Why does Forbes think anyone should book to see Rebus: A Game Called Malice, he says "it'll be a good night out if you like mysteries and solving a mystery then you'll enjoy it, if you like good theatre you'll enjoy it. It's a really amazing bunch of actors and we're all getting on really well and there's some great work in the room. It's a great theatre to come and visit if you've not been to the Queen's Theatre before then come and visit it because it's a lovely theatre." It’s funny how writers can so competently & confidently write about subjects in which they have no expertise, managing to make it seem like they’re highly qualified – but then fall apart when they decide that one of their characters has to be an influencer or have some other vague interest in social media. The things these characters say just never quite sound natural, yet the remarks from the older generation that they’re trying to explain the whole concept to sound very familiar indeed… Candida (you already guessed it was her, didn’t you?) does at least develop and become slightly less predictable after her clunky introduction, but it’s clear that playwrights have now moved on from the obligatory selfie (that’s so 2010s) to the obligatory influencer to confirm modernity.

Popular Sections

If you like a good murder mystery that is well written with great characters and some good humour thrown in for good measure superbly performed by the cast, then this is a perfect way to spend a couple of hours at the theatre. With the rise of True Crime documentaries, TV shows like Line of Duty, and hit films like Knives Out and the recent sequel Glass Onionit feels somewhat like a renaissance time for the genre "It seems to be doesn't it. I watched the first Knives Out with my kids and we all watched Glass Onion over Christmas. It's brilliant. Everything is so shit at the moment and people want escapism and that's why there are so many musicals around. A play that is a whodunnit makes you try and work something out and you're active. It takes you away from thinking about everyday life." In Rebus: A Game Called Malice, the start and build up is slow. There is a bunch of introductions and small talk between the various characters, as you sort of figure out who is there and why. A couple live at the place, hosting the dinner party. Another couple have attended, as the husband gambles with the husband hosting. A lawyer was invited, and she invited the detective as her friend. John Rebus agreed for personal reasons, as he felt there was more to a long-ended case than what was told.

Michie will be joined by Rebecca Charles ( The Dresser, Theatre Royal Bath and The Father, Duke of York Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre); Billy Hartman (best known for playing the part of Terry Woods on ITV’s Emmerdale); Emily Joyce (best known for playing Janet Dawkins in BBC One’s My Hero); Forbes Masson (best known for his classical theatre roles and comedy partnership with Alan Cumming – The High Life, BBC Two); and Emma Noakes (best known for BBC One’s Call The Midwife and leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company). The cast of Rebus: A Game Called Malice includes John Michie, Rebecca Charles, Billy Hartman, Emily Joyce, Forbes Masson and Emma Noakes. Michie will be joined byRebecca Charles( The Dresser, Theatre Royal Bath and The Father, Duke of York Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre);Billy Hartman(best known for playing the part of Terry Woods on ITV’s Emmerdale);Emily Joyce(best known for playing Janet Dawkins in BBC One’s My Hero);Forbes Masson(best known for his classical theatre roles and comedy partnership with Alan Cumming – The High Life, BBC Two);andEmma Noakes(best known for BBC One’s Call The Midwife and leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company).Rebus: A Game Called Malice will be directed by the award-winning Robin Lefevre (who has worked extensively in the UK, Ireland and the United States); designed by Terry Parsons (who has designed 37 productions in London’s West End including Grease, Dominion Theatre and Singin’ In The Rain, The London Pallladium); with lighting design by Matthew Eagland ( The Life I Lead, Park Theatre and Wyndham’s Theatre); and joining them is composer and sound designer Garth McConaghie ( Derry Girls, Channel 4).