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—Macbeth. It’s only in the provincial rep, but you have to start (or re-start) somewhere. And his agent has promised that though what’s offered is not much of a part, “other good parts are in the offing”. By which perhaps is not meant precisely what happens: that Charles finds himself doubling almost every role in the play that isn’t held by the three principals. And as for the principals, they could hardly be more ill-sorted. Macbeth is played by George Birkitt, the TV game-show personality whom we met in Dead Giveaway. Lady Macbeth comes straight from Stratford: an intense young woman with Method in her madness. And Duncan is that notorious old ham, Warnock Belvedere, who feels that he’s in the tradition of great acto-managers. With such a cast, sparks are bound to fly. It’s not long before death strikes in the night. And Charles Paris takes on the role of private eye…

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Customer Reviews

Average Customer Rating:

Pleasing little theatrical mystery

Customer Rating:

My favourites among the lightweight crime novels of Simon Brett that feature actor cum sleuth Charles Parris are those set against a background of the live theatre and What Bloody Man Is That falls into this category. Parris is engagaed to appear in provincial repertory theatre in a production of MacBeth-not,alas for him ,in either the title role or a significant supporting part ,but in a variety of small roles.It is a production for which the omens are not good.The title role is in the hands of an actor whose recent career has been in a television sitcom,and who has forgotten many of the disciplines of the classical theatre;his Lady MacBeth is a promising young actress used to the more leisurely and academic approach of the subsidised theatre and who is aghast at the short rehearsal time and text cutting inherent in the commercial world.Add to this a cast member who is a predatory old roue who turns up dead and there is every reason to believe that Shakespeares play will live up to its reputation an "unlucky" The mystery is not deep but the brisk pace and jaunty writing keeps things lively and diverting,and there are some wry observations about the way the young generation of schoolkids have to be dragged along to see the Bard,and the unenthusiastic response of the MTV audience to the classics.Brett is especially good on the cameraderie between actors who operate below the level of stardom. One for those who like their mysteries breezy and light and especially if they are devotees of the thespic arts.