Peter James' Picture You Dead Review | The Lowry | Manchester
- Frances
- Apr 17
- 2 min read
Picture You Dead is a hilarious thriller that manoeuvres from car boot sales to multiple murder plots. The modest stage thriller is full of British charm and brings an understated mystery to the Lowry stage.
Spanning 21 books, Peter James’s, Roy Grace series has moved from the page to the stage with charming results as his intoxicating stories offer standalone thrillers, recreated for lovers of the underserved theatre genre. James’s stage re-creations are ambitious productions that bring together elements of the supernatural, comedy and crime, but his well-established Grace franchise is neatly packaged onto the Lowry stage for an entertaining evening.
James’s latest adaptation, shaped by Shaun McKenna follows Detective Superintendent Grace (George Rainsford) as he investigates a cold case and a spate of murders interlinked with the art world. After Harry (Ben Cutler) and Freya Kipling (Fiona Wade) find a car boot steal in the form of a painting, they attempt to get their picture valued at the Antiques Roadshow, only to uncover a whole new world of forgeries. Alongside a suspicious cast of characters with a talent for hunting their own bargains, the lackadaisical couple are unwittingly thrust into a dangerous game of cat and mouse within the underground art scene. Attracting the attention of a gangster Stuart Piper (Nicholas Maude) and his righthand woman, Roberta Kilgore (Jodie Steele), shady characters are recruited to help the reckless Piper build up his art collection.
Rainsford returns to the role of Grace after performing in Wish You Were Dead. The levelheaded and believable detective grounds the show alongside the working-class Kiplings who are rooted in realism. These characters simplicity gives the show a level of relatability regardless of where the drama takes you as there are a lot of good people making bad decisions, holding onto secrets or just completely clueless.
A gender-swapped role from the book brings the talented Steele (Wicked and Bonnie and Clyde) into the mix as a stylish henchwoman to the quick-witted, scenery chewing Piper. Their villainous roles are one of the highlights of the show as the persistently shadowy baddies who can unnerve the audience with their highly expressive performances.
Director Jonathan O’Boyle and stage designer Adrian Linford bring together a fantastic split set that allows the production to move swiftly from police station to the Kiplings’s home and onto art forgers, Dave Hegarty’s (Peter Ash) studio. Hegarty’s studio in particular, designed with re-creations of a Banksy, Van Gogh and an L.S. Lowry is lovely touch as the show instantly moves between its impressive cast of characters.
Picture You Dead is a popcorn stage thriller made to serve the audience's sweet tooth. If you are familiar with James’s signature style of storytelling you are doubtlessly going to enjoy the familiar crime drama, and newcomers will soon uncover why Grace has been going strong since 2005.
Tickets are available via the Lowry link