Gallowglass/Malvern Theatres

MOST of us have at some stage in our lives encountered the odd control freak or two, perhaps in playground, factory or office.

But Sandor Wincanton is in a league of his own, a thoroughly nasty piece of work. What’s worse, this is one reptile brain with a mission… and for that he needs a compliant stooge who will obey his every whim and submit to any random abuse that the tormentor may decide to dish out.

In other words, what’s required is perfect fodder for doing the donkey work on the rocky road to evil intent.

Kidnap’s the name of this particular game and Joe Herbert is in debt to the oily Wincanton on account of the fact that his thin controller has just pulled him out of the path of a tube train.

The plan is to snatch the wife of a wealthy landowner, demand a hefty ransom, and then live in luxury in southern Italy.

So it’s all clear cut, then? Not really. Nothing’s ever straight down the line as far as Ruth Rendell is concerned and Gallowglass is no exception to the rule.

Writing as Barbara Vine, she weaves a tortuous and tangled tale as you would expect, nevertheless dropping the occasional clue here and there, just to keep the audience on its toes as well as their seats.

Joe Eyre makes for a magnificently manipulative Wincanton, playing Joe Herbert (Dean Smith) like an angler with a firmly hooked trout.

The fly in the ointment is Paul Garnett (Paul Opacic) a seemingly regular guy who works his way into the heart and then the bed of the intended victim, Nina Abbott (Florence Cady). This may indeed be a typical Rendell scent-thrower, there again it might not be.

There are excellent performances too from Rachael Hart as Tilley, the tart with no heart, and Eva Sayer as Garnett’s daughter Jessica.

With lightning-fast set changes and a neurotically pounding piano dominating the soundtrack, this world stage premiere from Middle Ground Theatre Company is a real chiller of a thriller. It runs until Saturday (January 27).

John Phillpott