Review of Picture You Dead at Norwich’s Theatre Royal: Murder mystery will keep you guessing right until the end

Our reviewer went to see Picture You Dead at Theatre Royal, Norwich. Here is what she thought…

Peter James is one of our most successful crime writers and his twisty-turny novels have made the transition to both telly and the stage.

One of his best has just arrived in Norwich with a host of well-known faces taking on his complex characters.

Casualty’s George Rainsford is the super polite top cop, DS Grace, while Corrie’s Peter Ash plays master forger Dave Hegarty, and Emmerdale’s Jodie Steele is a dodgy art consultant Roberta Kilgore who boasts a passion for violence and leather trousers.

There’s a lot of storyline with all the usual red herrings as Grace investigates the dark side of the art world, and the body count, as you’d expect, starts to mount up before he carefully unravels it all.

This new production moves along at a fair lick as James produces complicated plots which almost fall over themselves at times and you do have to concentrate to keep up with the action which includes everything from a fire to a torture scene via several murders.

It is all helped along by a clever set that moves seamlessly from one location to another.

If you love murder mystery that will keep you guessing right until the very end, this one will be right up your street!

The show is now continuing its tour of the UK.

Visit www.norwichtheatre.org for other shows coming up in Norwich.

Review by Sarah Hardy