Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Florida - Southern

Sleuth

Also see John's review of Gutenberg! The Musical!


Mark Jacoby and Jeremy Webb
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre presents Anthony Shaffer's psychological thriller Sleuth.  The original Broadway production, starring Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter, opened at the Music Box Theatre on November 9, 1970.  The production ran for 1,222 performances, and received both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award.   A film adaptation was released in 1972, starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.  A second film adaptation was released in 2007 starring Michael Caine and Jude Law.  In addition to Sleuth, playwright Anthony Shaffer is also known for his screenplays of the 1972 Hitchcock thriller Frenzy and the British cult film The Wicker Man.   Shaffer claims that Sleuth is partially inspired by one of his friends, composer Stephen Sondheim, whose intense interest in game-playing is mirrored by the character of Andrew Wyke.

Sleuth is set in the Wiltshire, England, manor house of Andrew Wyke, a successful mystery writer.  Perhaps as a result of his trade, Wyke is obsessed with the craft of deception and the complexities of game-playing.  He lives for the adrenalin-educing emotional responses they elicit.  Wyke invites his wife's lover, Milo Tindle, to his home to discuss a plot to stage a robbery to steal his wife's very expensive jewelry. The spiral of events following the staged robbery leads the audience through twists and turns built to obscure the boundaries between reality and imagination.  What begins as a battle of wills between the two men over the love of the same woman, becomes a battle of wits over the issue of one-upsmanship.

The set for this production is handsomely done by Michael Bottari and Ronald Case.  The equally talented Mark Jacoby as Andrew Wyke and Jeremy Webb as Milo Tindle deftly weaving their web of deception upon one another.  They also draw the audience willingly along with them in this engrossing psychological tale.  From start to finish, their acting and pacing is near perfection.  If it is a well-acted drawing room drama you crave, Sleuth is sure to satisfy.

Sleuth will be presented at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre through December 14, 2008. The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is a 550-seat, nonprofit, community-based Equity regional theatre belonging to the League of Resident Theatres, and the Florida Professional Theatre Association. This theatre employees both local and non-local Equity and non-union cast and crew members. The theatre is located at 1001 Indiantown Rd. (just off of A1A) in Jupiter, FL. Show times are Tuesday - Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.. For tickets to this show, and complete information on the theatre's offerings, you may contact them by phone at 561/ 575-3332 or 800/ 445-1666, and online at www.jupitertheatre.org.

Cast
Andrew Wyke: Mark Jacoby*
Milo Tindle: Jeremy Webb*
Inspector Doppler: Stanley Rushton*
Detective Sergeant Tarrant: Robin Mayfield*
Police Constable Higgs: Liam McNutly

Crew
Director: Peter Flynn+
Scenic/Costume Design: Michael Bottari and Ronald Case
Fight Choreography: Lee Soroko
Lighting Design: Donald Edmund Thomas
Sound Design: Keith Kohrs
Production Stage Manager: Emily Swiderski*

*Designates member of Actor's Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

+Denotes member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.


See the current theatre season schedule for southern Florida.

-- John Lariviere