Sleuth (play)
| Sleuth | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Anthony Shaffer |
| Characters | Milo Tindle Andrew Wyke Inspector Doppler Detective Sergeant Tarrant Police Constable Higgs |
| Date premiered | 9 November 1970 |
| Place premiered | Music Box Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | |
| Genre | Mystery, Thriller |
| Setting | A manor house in Wiltshire, England |
| IBDB profile | |
Sleuth is a 1970 play written by Anthony Shaffer. The play is set in the Wiltshire, England manor house of Andrew Wyke, an immensely successful mystery writer. His home reflects Wyke's obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures his wife's lover, Milo Tindle, to the house and convinces 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.
Shaffer said the play was partially inspired by one of his friends, composer Stephen Sondheim, whose intense interest in games-playing is mirrored by the character of Wyke.
The play's first production, starring Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter, was at London's St Martin's Theatre.
After four previews, the Broadway production, with Quayle and Baxter directed by Clifford Williams, opened on November 9, 1970 at the Music Box Theatre, where it ran for 1,222 performances. When Anthony Quayle left the production in 1972, Patrick Macnee (known to American audiences from the British television series "The Avengers") replaced him in the role of Wyke [1].
In the late 90's, Soumitra Chatterjee and Koushik Sen staged a Bengali adaptation of the play and toured all over the world. The play was titled 'tiktiki', which literally means lizard in Bengali but the more relevant connotation here is 'detective'.
[edit] Film adaptations
In 1972, Shaffer adapted his play for film, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. Another film adaptation was released in 2007 with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. The 2007 film was directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Michael Caine and Jude Law as Milo Tindle, originally played by Caine in the 1972 version.
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Awards
- Tony Award for Best Play
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance - Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter
- Nominations
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Clifford Williams
- Tony Award for Best Lighting Design - William Ritman
[edit] References
- T. E. Kalem (23 November 1970). "Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum". Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,943346,00.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
- ^ , "Sleuth", from the Internet Broadway Database, http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=94523
[edit] External links
- Sleuth at the Internet Broadway Database
- Sleuth (1972 film) at the Internet Movie Database
- Sleuth (2007 film) at the Internet Movie Database
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