You know it's summer when the Newpalm Productions murder mysteries return to Eastbourne.
This year the company is staging just two weeks instead of the usual three, which will be a disappointment to many fans.
Judging by the standard of the first production it is a shame we are not seeing more of this talented company.
JB Priestley's Dangerous Corner makes you listen to every word. What starts as an ordinary dinner party at the Caplan's House in Chantbury Close in the Thirties turns into a harrowing experience for all the guests. Robert Caplan is faced with the choice of pursuing the truth about his brother's suicide or letting a superficially happy evening run its course.
When he opts for the truth he becomes tangled in a self-destructive web of jealousy and love.
Andrew Ryan gives a first-class performance as the tortured Robert while his long-suffering wife is well played by an Eastbourne favourite, Georgina Sutton.
Kerry McDonald is well cast as the not-so-innocent Betty and Sam Bern is a perfect foil as her tortured husband Gordon, unsure of his sexuality.
Sylvia Carson gives a good performance as successful novelist Miss Mockridge, hated by her fellow guests, as does Sylvia Keeler, who plays the spinster suffering from unrequited love, Olwen Peel.
Completing the cast is another regular, Zach Vanderfelt, who plays the only bachelor, Charles Stanton, with just the right air of aloofness.
Geoff Wheatley has designed costumes which capture the period and the set makes you feel you are in a Thirties drawing room.
The production could easily be boring as the first act lasts more than an hour but David Horne's direction keeps the audience involved until the final twist.
Until June 11, 2005. Call 01323 412000.
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