Night Watch

Lucille Fletcher’s 1972 play Night Watch is an extraordinarily well constructed murder mystery which keeps the audience guessing at the truth behind what is being said and seen. It is a sort of cross between the famous 1954 film Rear Window and the classic 1938 thriller Gaslight as wealthy heiress Elaine Wheeler screams when she believes she has seen two murders in the next door building through her Manhattan apartment window. When the Detectives can find no evidence at all, we suspect that someone in her household is seeking to drive her insane. The twists and turns keep us guessing until the final brilliant reveal.

The play requires a very strong actress in the role of Elaine Wheeler displaying a wide range of emotions and creating a layered and nuanced character to make the audience believe the ways she is reacting to each twist and revelation. Shinfield Players are very fortunate to have such an actress with a fine supporting cast. The production has been tragically impacted with the sudden illness and passing away of the original director and then the leading man being taken ill during the first performance. The success of the show is a great credit to the Assistant Director who took over and then stood in as John Wheeler for the remaining performances with book in hand.

The setting in the Living room of the apartment is almost another character with key features that are central to the narrative. The stage right window looks out on a very good-looking apartment building, the central double doors add to the tension and a wonderful Picasso hints at the wealth behind the family. It may not quite look the opulent apartment with a feminine touch that the script calls for, but it is a very effective set with just enough hints of the Seventies to set the time and location.

The result is a well-paced tense mystery, very well acted and a remarkable achievement for the cast and Assistant Director in what must have been a most challenging and emotional period of rehearsal and performance. Shinfield Players can be justifiable proud of the achievement which honoured the original Director & the work of all the cast and crew in delivering his vision .

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