Saturday, January 27, through Sunday, February 11
The Black Box Theatre, 1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL
The most famed work by one of the most famed authors of stage mysteries will be presented at the Black Box Theatre January 27 through February 11, with the Moline venue housing Anthony Shaffer's mind-twisting Sleuth, which received the 1971 Tony Award for Best Play and was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film starring Michael Caine and Sir Laurence Olivier.
Telling the tale of Andrew Wyke, an immensely successful mystery writer whose wife is having an affair, Sleuth is set in a stately manor house in Wiltshire, England – a home that reflects Wyke's obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction, plus his fascination with games and game-playing. Shaffer's play finds Wyke luring his wife's lover Milo Tindle to the house and convincing him to stage a robbery of her jewelry, a proposal that sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher where Wyke's imagination ends and reality begins. In addition to its Tony win, Sleuth earned nominations for Best Direction and Best Lighting Design, and also received the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best Play.
Directing the Black Box Theatre's 2018 season-opener is company co-founder and artistic director Lora Adams, whose other presentations for her venue have included Murderers (in which she also co-starred) and It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Pat Flaherty and Phillip Dunbridge portray antogonists Wyke and Tindle, with the show's cast rounded out by Alec Cawthorne, Eve Channing, John Matthews, and Teddy Martin, and Black Box co-founder David Miller serves as this mystery-thriller's lighting designer.
Sleuth runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m., and tickets are $16 for all performances. For more information and to reserve, call (563)284-2350 or visit TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.
