Following the success of the critically acclaimed BBC television series, the stage version of Ian Rankin’s much-loved detective Rebus is coming to Cardiff this week. REBUS: A GAME CALLED MALICE stars GRAY O’BRIEN in the title role. The play centres around a murder mystery game, but with rising suspicions
Joining Gray is ABIGAIL THAW (Stephanie Jeffries) and BILLY HARTMAN (Jack Fleming).
Ian Rankin is the multimillion-copy award-winning bestseller of over thirty novels worldwide and creator of John Rebus. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages and have been adapted for radio, the stage and the screen. His Rebus novels have dominated the detective fiction market with the recent BBC television series ensuring the detective’s legendary status.
Perhaps best known for his roles in Coronation Street, Peak Practice and Casualty, Gray plays John Rebus. His theatre credits include Educating Rita (Perth Theatre), Catch Me If You Can, The Case of the Frightened Lady, The Sound of Music, Dead Simple (UK tour), Sleuth (Apollo Theatre), The Magistrate (Pitlochry Festival Theatre). Television credits include Coronation Street (as series regular Tony Gordon), Casualty (as series regular Richard McCaid), Peak Practice (as series regular Dr Tom Deneley), Shakespeare and Hathaway, The Loch, Titanic – Blood and Steel and Doctor Who – Voyage of the Damned. Film credits include The Wasting and The Daniel Connection.
Billy returns to the role of Jack Fleming, having created it for the stage in 2023. His other theatre credits include Gypsy (Savoy Theatre), The Confessions of Gordon Brown (Traverse Theatre and Scottish tour), The Little Match Girl (Orange Tree Theatre), Homework (Battersea Arts Centre), and Oliver! (Sadlers’ Wells). Television credits include Emmerdale (as series regular as Terry Woods), Dal Y Mellt, The Trick, Keeping Faith, Pobol Y Cwm, In Suspicious Circumstances, 99-1 and A Touch of Frost. He also lives in Cardiff now
We met up with two of the stars (Gray and Billy), when they popped into the New Theatre ahead of the tour arrival next week. Plenty to talk about, as you can imagine……..
As Gray mentioned in the interview, the story is set in a splendid dinner party in an Edinburgh mansion concludes with a murder mystery game created by the hostess. A murder needs to be solved. But the guests have secrets of their own, threatened by the very game they are playing. And among them is Inspector John Rebus. True crime is his calling. Is he playing an alternative game, one to which only he knows the rules? There are suspects, clues and danger with every twist and turn – and a shocking discovery will send this game called ‘Malice’ hurtling towards a gasp-inducing conclusion.
REBUS: A GAME CALLED MALICE gets to the New Theatre in Cardiff this evening through to Saturday 12th October. Performances are at 7:30pm each evening with a 2:30pm matinee on Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets range from £24 to £44, for more details and to get yours, go HERE.
