REVIEW: DANGEROUS OBSESSION

SHELLEY THEATRE, BOURNEMOUTH

Concluding the London Repertory Players’ brilliant summer season at the historic and exquisitely atmospheric Shelley Theatre, this entertaining thriller is a wonderful climax, running until next Tuesday.

Following the hugely enjoyable dark Dial M For Murder, and the hilarious comedy Come Blow Your Horn, this is a tight taut Dangerous Obsession of a psychological thriller.

Set on a hot summer day in 1987, the audience is immediately hooked by a swim suited Sally being stared at in her luxurious conservatory by a dark-suited stranger carrying a heavy briefcase ...but how did he get into the house ... and what’s in the weighty briefcase?

Smoothly and tightly directed by Vernon Thompson, this intriguing play is full of tension, mystery and shocking revelations.

Convincingly written by playwright Norman Crisp, this is compelling storytelling, with just three fine actors carrying the drama.

Barbara Dryhurst plays the smoothly brittle Sally, gradually revealing family secrets and cranking up the tension.

Her businessman husband, seemingly affluent and expansive, is conveyed beautifully by the convincing Mark Spalding.

And the mysterious stranger John Barrett, with his precise and concise languorous vocabulary disguising the gun in his briefcase, is given depth and detail by the brilliant Al Wadlan.

The stage set, effectively claustrophobic, benefits from the omission of the central main door, so awkwardly intrusive in the first two Repertory productions.

Dangerous Obsession runs until Tuesday – do not miss this wonderful theatrical treat.

Brendan McCusker