A few of the leaves on the crepe myrtle outside the window of my condo have just begun to change to a reddish-orange color, which can mean only one thing – we have moved on from the summer musical season into the murder-mystery season at our local community theaters.  Though maybe not fitting directly into that category, “Sleuth”, currently playing at the Little Theatre of Virginia Beach, certainly has similar vibes.

A little treat that I always look forward to about the murder-mystery genre of stage play is that our local set designers are often put to the test, with sets that must fill very specific needs – needs which sometimes must be hidden right until the moment of reveal.  Marc Dyer, who both directed and designed the set for this show, certainly lived up to that task, with a beautifully detailed two-story set with a couple tricks up its sleeve.  This set was able to bring an uncomfortable kinetic energy with it – an energy which only heightened the generally unsettling nature of the play.  And right smack in the middle of the set is the most unsettling item of all: a life-size laughing sailor puppet, created by props mistress Lori Dunn.  I did not want to be in the same room as that puppet without keeping an eye on it – so I was quite happy when the curtain was closed for intermission so that I didn’t have to monitor its movements for the entire fifteen minute break.  Instead, I got to spend my intermission watching audience members walk up to the various board games set up around the edge of the stage.  Each game was set up mid-game, and everyone seemingly wanted to decipher the opponent’s strategy and determine the proper response (a perfect reflection of what was occurring on-stage).

The action of this show centers around two main characters.  Andrew Wyke is an older man, the author of many detective stories and the owner of the house the show is set in, who has invited a younger man, Milo Tindle, to his home for an evening.  Milo seems uncomfortable from the beginning, but Andrew is able to relax him with his professorly monologues (and a few drinks from the well-appointed bar).  However, the original uneasiness of the meeting is quickly explained when Andrew, suddenly abrupt and to the point, says to Milo “I understand you want to marry my wife.”  There are many moments like this in the show, where Andrew is pontificating about something, a professor with an unwilling student, and then, just when you think the drone will continue forever – *bam* – he gets to the core of the apple.  A trick of lulling you to sleep and then waking you back up in a startling fashion, pulled off nicely by actor Robin Chapman.

Milo Tindle, meanwhile, is played well by Alan Mathews as the naïve young man being guided by the wiser older man with a plan.  That can be hard to portray on stage – as Mathews has to act like this is the first time he has ever heard this plot each evening, and be believably convinced as to what to do on a nightly basis.  Mathews’s surprise feels genuine at each turn, as he becomes embedded deeper and deeper in the game that has been laid out for him. 

As Tindle realizes his deteriorating position, he must decide how to turn defense into offense, and what that return volley will look like (if it’s not too late).  These are two men, both driven by pride and an unwillingness to cede defeat in the silliest and yet most serious of circumstances, each seeking a solution to their loneliness.  Who will win this strange game they’ve woven for themselves?  Will anyone?  That, as they say, is why they play the game.