Sir Ian Rankin is the award-winning, bestselling writer of over thirty novels worldwide and the creator of John Rebus, one of the most enduring characters in crime fiction. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages and adapted for radio, stage and screen, including a new BBC Television series, featuring Rebus as a young police officer.
Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD on the literary life of Muriel Spark. While Ian’s first novel Summer Rites remains in a drawer, he published The Flood in 1986, followed by Knots & Crosses in 1987 which introduced Inspector John Rebus. Amongst numerous accolades, he has won four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger, and America’s celebrated Edgar Award.
‘Rebus: A Game Called Malice’ is a new crime thriller written by Sir Ian Rankin and Simon Reade exclusively for the stage, starring Gray O’Brien as Detective Inspector Rebus. Briefly, the story takes place at a dinner party in a grand Edinburgh townhouse where the hostess has planned an entertaining murder mystery game. A real murder is committed but fortunately, among the guests is Inspector John Rebus.
At a media preview to promote the play, Sir Ian Rankin and Gray O’Brien took part in an interview with BBC news journalist and Chairman of the Edinburgh Book Festival, Alan Little. First O’Brien was asked about taking on such an iconic role. He felt that Rebus has aged in time through the novels, and hasn’t looked after himself, so wondered if he was too young, and should he have a diet of donuts. But many actors have played the Detective, such as John Michie, so age does not matter.
In A Game Called Malice, Rebus has been invited to dinner as a + 1 of a guest, a female lawyer, at 75 Heriot Row (like 44 Scotland Street, the number does not exist!), the discreet, hidden world behind the Georgian walls. All six guests are therefore suspects for the murder and Rebus is keen to find out who the victim is and investigate the crime before the police arrive.
Alan Little asks Rankin a fascinating question, how does he dramatise the detective’s inner thoughts on stage?. The theatrical device is ‘like a Shakespearian soliloquy, he explains how he goes about things, the why, what of the scene.’ He was inspired by seeing The Inspector Calls, the chilling Morality play by J.P. Priestley in which a police officer interrupts a family dinner party to discuss a girl’s suicide. Rankin also studied the closed room scenario of the existential play Huis Clos (No Exit) by Sartre and the classic country house environment of Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries.
The stage set will apparently feature two doors, one leading to the kitchen and a staircase, in order to involve the audience into every aspect of the action, nuance and movement of the characters. All Rankin can do is ‘ write the dialogue, it’s for the actors to make it work.’ Writing for the stage there’s an immediate response, ‘perhaps oohs and aahs or a laugh from the stalls. Immediate feedback’.
Gray O’Brien is best known for popular TV series, (Coronation Street, Peak Practice, Casualty, River City), but he has also starred in many stage plays such as the key role of Juror 10 in the West End hit show and UK tour of Twelve Angry Men based on the 1957 movie.
When asked what he prefers, TV or Theatre, O’Brien admits they are totally different media. On screen there can be flash backs and voice overs, and in soap opera he had to develop a photographic memory for pages of script to learn each day. On stage in Twelve Angry Men, he had a six minute speech – he dried in rehearsal but fortunately this did not happen once in 183 performances. ‘It’s terrible what we put ourselves through!’, he admits with a laugh.
For Rankin he purposely selected Heriot Row where Robert Louis Stevenson grew up on a street of respectability and privilege in contrast to the city's duality of social class, the story of Deacon Brodie inspiring his novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.
When he writes a novel, he hides away in his study on his own. For this stage play, he has enjoyed collaborating with Simon Reade, the actors and director, sharing ideas, where he is ‘one of a team’.
In classic murder mystery fashion, expect red herrings, clues, numerous suspects, secrets, surprise twists and turns to keep the audience trying to work out the convoluted plot and whodunnit until the final curtain.
‘Rebus: A Game Called Malice’ runs from Tuesday 10 to Saturday 14 September 2024
https://www.capitaltheatres.com/whats-on/all-shows/rebus-a-game-called-malice/2339#details
UK Tour: