About the Play:

Sleuth was one of Royal National Theatre of Britain's top 100 plays of the 20th century.

Sleuth is a full-length mystery by Anthony Shaffer. Andrew Wyke, acclaimed detective story writer, invites his wife's lover and adversary to his English home for the deal of a lifetime. A plot which involves a jewellery heist, insurance fraud and the ultimate revenge turns into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. This stirring whodunit, often referred to as one of the greatest stage thrillers, will keep your audience guessing until the end!

Sleuth is the ultimate game of cat-and-mouse, played out in a cozy English country house owned by a rich, snobbish mystery writer, Andrew Wyke. The game obsessed novelist is about to be rid of his ex-wife once and for all, snapped up by the charming Milo Tindle. Andrew seems more that happy to see off his old lover at first having already a mistress to his name. So no problems, right? Think again... According to Andrew, his wife is an expensive attachment, one he feels sure Milo will struggle to afford. Andrew suggests to Milo he may want to steal a large collection of expensive jewellery originally intended for Andrew's wife, sell the lot on the continent and live off the illicit proceedings whilst Andrew sits comfortably on the insurance money from the jewellery. And so the game begins. The two embark on a battle of wills, trying to best the other as the perfect crime is plotted and then taken to the next level. Only one will survive this dangerous game, but who? Sleuth revolutionized the style and content of the British stage thriller and also generated two film adaptations.

Sleuth premiered in 1970 at Brighton Theatre Royal and won a prolonged standing ovation. It transferred to St Martin's Theatre and ran for more than 2,300 performances in London's West End. After that, it moved to Broadway's Music Box Theatre where it ran for more than 2,000 performances and garnered a Tony Award for best play of the year. The 1972 film version of Sleuth starred Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine, for which Anthony Shaffer wrote the screenplay. Thirty-five years later, Michael Caine took on the older role opposite Jude Law, in a version directed by Kenneth Branagh with a screenplay by Harold Pinter.

Cast: 5 male

What people say:

"Ingenious skulduggery replete with skillful suspense and inventive tricks." — The New York Post

"As clever as a wagonload of monkeys solving the crossword puzzle of The Times of London and as intricate as the Hampton Court maze. It is good, neat, clean and bloody fun and I most cordially recommend it." — The New York Times

"Sleuth is one of the best melodramas I have ever seen. Maybe it is the best." — New York Daily News

About the Playwright:

Anthony Shaffer (1926-2001) was a leading British playwright, screenwriter and novelist. Noted for his elaborate plots, he is perhaps best remembered for with the subtly satirical and highly successful Sleuth, which won the Tony Award for Best Play and inspired two film versions. After receiving his degree from Cambridge, he worked as a barrister, a journalist and an advertising executive before devoting his energies to writing. With his twin brother Peter, he co-authored two novels under the pseudonym Peter Anthony before each carved out a niche on stage and in films. He wrote several television and stage plays, and many screenplays, including scripts for three Agatha Christie movies. In all of these, he introduced humorous twists absent from the original stories.