This Elizabethan play about the murder of a businessman Thomas Arden by his wife and her lover has been cleverly brought up to date in this hilarious and lively production.
Here Arden is the owner of a factory manufacturing Chinese waving cats, his desk adorned with other such tatty gifts including a nodding Jesus and a cup sporting a pair of naked breasts.
His bored wife Alice is having an affair with butcher’s son Mosby and together they plan to kill Arden, embroiling others into the murder plot by using Mosby’s sister Susan as bait.
There is superb characterisation by director Polly Findlay as we see a bumbling cyclist, hapless criminals, Essex wideboys and an obsessive cleaner all getting caught up in Alice’s plan.
Sharon Small is fabulous as a bubbly and manipulative Alice Arden. She moves around the stage with convincing sex appeal and her little dances of delight as she lures the men around her add great energy to the play.
Keir Charles is also superb as repulsive wide boy Mosby, who at one revolting moment plucks chewing gum from his mouth to kiss his lover Alice before promptly placing it back between his teeth.
There is great comedy throughout this fast-paced performance including some fabulous slapstick moments between luckless criminals Black Will (Jay Simpson who makes a great RSC debut here) and Shakebag (Tony Jayawardena) as the pair repeatedly fail to slay Arden. There is one hilarious moment when their attempt at being snipers grinds to a halt as they are left consulting an instruction manual to find out how to fire the gun.
Tension rises as the play moves towards the final murder scene and there is great drama as the gang frantically attempt to hide the evidence with some comic effect, especially when dripping blood from a hanging box threatens to give the game away.
The final scene depicting the trial of all those involved is cleverly done with the accused sat almost motionless in front of a dramatic and eerie backdrop of a wall of sinister looking giant Chinese waving cats.
A superb and riotous performance from start to finish.
