Witness for the Prosecution may be one of Agatha Christie's lesser known short stories, but Sarah Phelps admirably puts meat on the bone with this dark, meticulous production. How often, motivation, circumstance, plausibility and realism are sacrificed for dubious reasons of dramatic licence; not here! Each character, has their objectives, urges, needs and reasons. Yes, a coincidental meeting near the end does stretch credibility, but I'll allow for that.
I've never seen a pigeon not pecking away at something, Mayhew, appearing with an almost perpetual bead of sweat, played adroitly by Toby Jones, pecked away at justice, seeking to prove his client innocent, with admirable fortitude but, like some pigeons, not as much perception as was needed.
Andrea Riseborough rose to the challenge of being enigmatically evil with great aplomb, her sweet singing of 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart', so hypnotic, I almost felt her calling ME sweetheart (which I wouldn't have minded) as she slowly intoned the last stanza from her perch on the moon....'I'm in love with......you'. Me, of course!
There was dark foreboding, quite a queasy scene of a cat walking in it's dead mistresses blood - not that Kim Catrall would really have minded, perhaps she's looking to make a sequel to Sex in the City - Paws in the Blood.
Julian Jarrold directed with excellent tempo until the very end, which was a wee bit melodramatic, though I loved the moon appearing in the sky at the denouement, as it had every right to and should have received a credit for.
It's usually possible to predict who, why and what fairly easily - the twists and turns of this masterpiece kept us guessing to the end, although most of us had our suspicions. And I was always sure the cat was an innocent victim, not the culprit.
The disappearance of Play for Today and the Wednesday Play deprived us of brilliant offerings from the likes of Ken Loach and Peter Terson, more recent authors and directors hardly have an outlet for their talent. We need more contemporary drama, but this period piece, had interesting, highly contemporary themes of greed, sexual jealousy and loyalty - of sorts - from Emily French's maid.
Andrea, you don't have to call me sweetheart. I received quite sufficient pleasure seeing you and the ensemble performing to the peak of your ability. Offer the moon, you might, but as your character, Romaine, I might just want to have my solicitor with me when we meet...
