We are members of a local Theatre Club which is interesting as it encourages us to step outside our "theatre comfort zone" and go to different theatre productions. One such recent play was Agatha Christie's Love From a Stranger, at the Lowry in Salford.
Left to my own devices I don't think I would have chosen this play, it's a little bit too spooky for my taste, I am a bit of a scardey cat, after all!! However, it was excellent and thoroughly enjoyable although I was on the edge on my seat having read one of the reviews in the programme "A brilliant terror play … our blood was gloriously curdled."
The plot draws the audience and the actors created an excellent and credible sense of tension. The story is fairly straightforward and had much of the early Ealing comedies about it, especially Arsenic and Old Lace. Cecily Harrington has led a staid and proper existence. After winning a large amount of money in a sweepstake she desperately yearns for a life of adventure. Enter Bruce Lovell, a handsome and charming stranger who sweeps her off her feet. In a whirlwind romance, she recklessly abandons her job, friends and fiancé to settle in the remote and blissful surroundings of a country cottage. However, her newfound “love from a stranger” is not what it seems and in an astonishingly tense final scene, Cecily discovers the ghastly truth of her new love.
Love From a Stranger is an intense and chilling psychological thriller which examines the sadistic mind of a serial killer and the extremes to which the power of suggestion can be pushed.
As I said earlier, not my usual cup of tea, but brilliant, none the less.
Left to my own devices I don't think I would have chosen this play, it's a little bit too spooky for my taste, I am a bit of a scardey cat, after all!! However, it was excellent and thoroughly enjoyable although I was on the edge on my seat having read one of the reviews in the programme "A brilliant terror play … our blood was gloriously curdled."
The plot draws the audience and the actors created an excellent and credible sense of tension. The story is fairly straightforward and had much of the early Ealing comedies about it, especially Arsenic and Old Lace. Cecily Harrington has led a staid and proper existence. After winning a large amount of money in a sweepstake she desperately yearns for a life of adventure. Enter Bruce Lovell, a handsome and charming stranger who sweeps her off her feet. In a whirlwind romance, she recklessly abandons her job, friends and fiancé to settle in the remote and blissful surroundings of a country cottage. However, her newfound “love from a stranger” is not what it seems and in an astonishingly tense final scene, Cecily discovers the ghastly truth of her new love.
Love From a Stranger is an intense and chilling psychological thriller which examines the sadistic mind of a serial killer and the extremes to which the power of suggestion can be pushed.
As I said earlier, not my usual cup of tea, but brilliant, none the less.