Sleuth
Sleuth By Anthony Schaffer
Directed by Kenneth Rush
Benjamin Rush, Torey Scarbrough, and Joshua Atkins
Breakthrough Theatre, Winter Park FL</strong>
“Vengeance is mine!” sayeth the author, and that’s about all I can report on the plot of this nimble mind fuck of a story. In a cramped apartment, a marriage has collapsed and there’s more than a few scores to settle, and at every turn it’s not clear who is really up to what, whether the control has really passed from Houston to the shuttle, or if the people who are obviously not who they claim to be really aren’t. Heck, we don’t even know where the bodies are buried – maybe behind the bar, perhaps behind the Picasso, or even out on the fire escape?
But I digress. Once again, the Breakthrough production crew has squeezed way more set than should be possible onto their Manhattan-apartment sized slice of real estate. Fish swim in a tank, a flat screen TV monitor hangs from the wall, and a semi realistic modernist nude contemplates her sexuality as a penis rises from her left ear. The scary guy is Andrew Wyke (Scarbrough) – he connives and flatters and when he’s manipulated you into a sense of complacently he casually mentions he just put cyanide in your scotch. Milo Tindle (Rush) looks weak, feels broke, and is as morally bankrupt as Wyke but is more likely to hot wire your toaster than snake an exhaust hose into your bedroom. And Atkins as Berger? The less said about him the better, he had the worst prosthesis I’ve ever seen on stage.
“Sleuth” is diabolically clever, sharply executed, and keeps you uncomfortably on the edge of your seat. While they don’t drink as much liquor as George and Martha, there’s even more bitterness to be sorted out and I’d go so far as to suggest Mr. Schaffer had a few unhappy relations. Mr. Wikipedia? What do you say? Hmmm…VERY interesting…
For more information, please visit http://www.breakthroughtheatre.com
