REVIEW: The Long Drop – Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Long have rumours lingered about husband of murder victim Marion Watt. Was there more to Willy Watt’s involvement in his wife, sister-in-law and daughter’s killing than the court’s verdict would let you believe? Initially the number one suspect in the slaying, the discovery of evidence from another triple family slaying, with details so similar it was hard to ignore, led to police’s focus falling on Peter Manuel, The Beast of Birkenshaw. It is this that Scottish crime writer Denise Mina explored in her masterful thriller The Long Drop.
There is little doubt of Manuel’s involvement in the murders of which he was convicted, but the ambiguities around Watt’s involvement have refused to go away, including two family members of Manuel’s victims approaching author Mina with their doubts about Watt’s innocence.
Watt’s seedy dealings with the great and not so good of Glasgow’s criminal underworld are explored and the night spent on a pub crawl with Manuel (who had taken Watt’s cash in exchange for information) as he supposedly hunts for his wife’s killer, only darken the already muddy waters. Did Watt actually arrange the hit in his desire to get rid of his ailing wife to marry his young mistress? Or was the killing of his family a case of mistaken identity? The real targets his wealthy next door neighbours. How could anyone trust anything that fantasist Manuel says, with his claims of being a Russian spy or having safely landed a crashing plane? Or was Manuel really a criminal genius?These questions and more are posed and left unanswered in Linda McLean’s stage adaptation of Mina’s novel.
The writing is perfectly judged, the relentless tension steadily building, tightening to a vice like grip around your neck. This is a work that truly unsettles in the best possible way. It is a perfect combination of text, design, direction and beautifully measured acting. The entire ensemble are faultless from the central duo of the mercurial Brian Vernel as Manuel and Keith Fleming as the hard to believe or trust Watt to an ensemble comprising a clutch of Scotland’s most sure-footed and magnetic actors: Robert Jack, Andy Clark, Mary Gapinski, George Drennan and Martin Donaghy, there is quality oozing from its every pore. It’s rare to see a work of such perfection.
Image: Eoin Carey
