Review: The Daughter of Time, Charing Cross Theatre

Based on a crime novel by Josephine Tey, the premise of The Daughter of Time is that Scotland Yard Detective Alan Grant (Rob Pomfret) is confined to a hospital bed with a broken leg and has contracted terminal boredom. In an effort to jolt him out of his ennui, theatrical friends Marta Hallard (Rachel Pickup) and Nigel Templeton (Noah Huntley) provide him with a number of pictures of infamous people from history, inviting him to use his detective super powers to re-examine events. He dismisses all, until he gets to a photograph of Richard III. Interest piqued, the investigation and research begins.

The book was published in 1951 and keeping the period setting for the play is a good choice, I can’t imagine someone being able to stay in hospital several weeks in similar circumstances nowadays. Under Jenny Eastop’s direction the feel and atmosphere of 1950s TV, film and stage – both detective and romantic comedy genres – is maintained. The whole thing is funny throughout with many a spontaneous burst of laughter from the audience even when it is obvious what is coming. Light touch character tropes such as the gruff detective ‘married to his work’ or the no nonsense ‘do as you’re told’ nurse are used to good effect, as are the various and ingenious scene changes. Iconic stained glass for The Ivy, thick red drapes for The Old Vic and, of course, the functional hospital room, are all presented smoothly and quickly: impressive for a small stage. On hearing the music at the start I was reminded of the theme to Morse, which is possibly deliberate. Other interludes give a flavour of the scene that is about to follow. Very occasionally the timing seemed to be a bit off, with the fairly loud music still going strong when the actors had started to speak – an issue that can be easily rectified I’m sure.

Starting from a bit of a dodgy assumption (i.e. he must be innocent because he looks like an OK chap), the investigation is the ultimate cold case review, tracking down contemporaneous accounts rather than relying on hearsay. It ends up being a bit of a history lesson, albeit a very interesting one, prevented from becoming too tedious by the enthusiasm of the characters and being interspersed with the parallel love stories.

There are strong performances throughout although Hafsa Abbasi as Nurse Ingham could do with a bit more projection. Pickup is the epitome of 1950’s glamour, channelling her inner Grace Kelly; Harrison Sharpe as researcher Brent Carradine captures the character’s eccentric nervousness providing an energy to proceedings along with some physical humour; and despite being confined to bed most of the time, Pomfret maintains a strong presence.

Part romantic comedy, part detective story, part history lesson, The Daughter of Time provides an enjoyable and entertaining evening with a reminder of how history is written by the victor. I left wondering just what future generations would make of the plethora of ‘information’ available to us now.

Written by: M. Kilburg Reedy
Based on the novel by: Josephine Tey
Directed by: Jenny Eastop
Produced by: Excelsior Entertainment, Mercurius Theatre, and Steven M. Levy 
Set and Costume Design by: Bob Sterrett
Lighting Design by: Oliver McNally
Composed by: Haddon Kime

The Daughter of Time plays at Charing Cross Theatre until Saturday 13 September.