Peter James’ Picture You Dead | Newcastle Theatre Royal
13th May 2025 | Invited | Review by Stephen Stokoe
This was my second time at Newcastle Theatre Royal to see a stage adaptation of a Peter James novel following last year’s Wish You Were Dead which saw Detective Inspector Roy Grace out of his comfort zone investigating some rum goings on while he was supposed to be enjoying a relaxing holiday. Now a Detective Superintendent Grace is back to much more familiar territory on the south coast and his well trodden stomping ground.
This production sees the return of Casualty favourite George Rainsford donning Grace’s familiar mackintosh but joining him this year is a whole new cast to keep him at his detecting best as he investigates a historical murder within the seemingly strait-laced nonetheless murky world of fine art. The audience too are kept on their toes keeping abreast of all the shenanigans and double dealing as Grace and the team battle egos, forgers, forgeries and all manner of twists and turns to get to the bottom of the case.
This story, despite the body count, is a lot gentler than the previous play or indeed the corresponding ITV drama which stars John Simm as the detective Superintendent Grace. There was more than a fair share of laughs splattered across the canvas of this staged police procedural.
The action starts in the home of Mr and Mrs Kipling (nothing to do with man who makes cake or, indeed, the author) who are an ordinary couple scratching out a living. It transpires that Freya Kipling (Fiona Wade) has recently lost her employment and is dealing with recently diagnosed type-1 diabetes. Harry Kipling (Ben Cutler) is carrying the family as a jobbing builder and they save money by scouring local car boot and table top sales for bargains. Today they have returned from their endeavours with a misbehaving rotary chair and a rather ugly painting which Mr Kipling only really bought for the frame. Looking more closely at the painting, Harry notices that there is something underneath the upper layer of paint.
Harry has recently worked on the garage-cum-art studio of Dave Hegarty (Peter Ash) who advises that they carefully remove the layer with nail polish remover to see what is underneath. As the story progresses it transpires that aspiring artist is known to DS Grace who arrested him some years earlier for forging passports but that the latter has a soft spot of the former who appears to have turned his life around.
The funniest and best scene for me is when The Kiplings take their new found painting to ‘The Antiques Show’ to be appraised and learn that it could, if original, be worth north of £5m. Naturally they are delighted but decide to enlist former forger Hegarty to copy it and put the original somewhere beyond the wit of prying eyes and potential thieves. The presenter and appraiser is Oliver De Souza (Adam Morris) who puts in a wonderful turn in what is essentially a cameo role. He certainly makes it his own. I must also mention the composer and sound designer (Max Pappenheim) at this dramatic juncture whose musical interlude was just perfect enough not to attract the attention of lawyers from the BBC for copyright infringement.
Neatly wrapped around this story of new found unexpected wealth is Grace’s unsolved case of the death of an art collector which brings him into contact with some very unscrupulous characters including a blood thirsty and sadistic would-be art thief, a singularly unpleasant art collector and an ex-con Archie Goff (Mark Oxtoby) newly released from prison to try and get his grubby mitts on the very valuable painting.
And so the stage is set for murder, mayhem, and intrigue which skitters along at quite a pace and gives DS Grace quite the run around before the case is solved and the miscreants are apprehended. There is also a rather delightful twist in the tale to further tantalise the audience.
The staging (Adrian Linford) for this production is simple but effective. I liked the three distinct performance areas. One housed the living room of The Kiplings, one doubled as the home of unscrupulous art dealer Stuart Piper (Nicholas Maude) and Dave Hegarty’s art studio and the fore stage was utilised to accommodate the pacing and machinations of an ever increasingly frustrated DS Grace and Sergeant Moy (Gemma Stroyan) as they battle to solve the riddles presented to them. The direction by Jonathan O’Boyle is slick, quick and entertaining. The lighting (Jason Taylor) was effective but needs a little tweaking in places – this is, perhaps, only to be expected on the first night in a new venue and I have absolutely no doubt it will be.
The actors, creatives and production team have put together an excellent production which is entertaining, amusing, clever, witty and ultimately satisfying. Very well done indeed.
Picture You Dead runs at Newcastle Theatre Royal until Saturday 17th May and is well worth getting yourselves along to see if you, like DS Grace, can work out whodunnit.