Writer: Peter James
Adaptor: Shaun McKenna
Director: Jonathan O’Boyle
A fanatical art collector (who’s happy to let his fixer stray outside the bounds of the law for that special piece), 
the world’s best art forger (now straight) and a builder and his wife who make a lucky find at a car boot sale are the unlikely characters in Picture You Dead.
The plot, as ever in Peter James’ books, is convoluted and twisting. The impecunious Harry and Freya Kipling are furnishing their home with car boot sale finds, including a painting that turns out to possibly be a lost work by none other than Jean-Honoré Fragonard and to potentially be worth millions. Forger Dave Hegarty offers to make them a copy that they can hang while the original is authenticated and safely stored. But collector Stuart Piper is desperate to get his hands on it and dispatches his fixer, Roberta Kilgore to get it any way she can.
Most of the play centres around the gavotte danced by these characters as the Kiplings hope to make a killing, while Piper and Kilgore aren’t averse to actual killing to get their way, all relying to some extent on Hegarty. So George Rainsford doesn’t have too much to do as Detective Superintendent Grace as he directs first a cold case murder of an art dealer and subsequently events in the present. Nevertheless, Rainsford brings a sense of humanity to Grace, bringing out the grudging admiration – even affection – Grace has for Hegarty in a believable way.
In the programme notes, Peter James shares his visit to real-life forger-turned-copyist, ‘brushstroke alchemist’ David Henty, who served as the inspiration for Hegarty. The genuine affection that James has for Henty really shines out in all of Hegarty’s interactions, making him easily the most watchable character.
As Hegarty, Mark Oxtoby is a joy to watch, with superb timing and a neat line in hurt feelings when it’s suggested he’s a forger (he’s not – now he’s legit, he’s a copyist). He’s cheery but we also get the feeling that, for all his bonhomie, something is hidden in his studio.
As Stuart Piper, however, Ore Oduba does stray into two-dimensionality in his increasingly desperate attempts to get the Fragonard, stopping only just short of pantomime villainy with his rolling eyes. Jodie Steele, on the other hand, excels as the villainous Ms Fixit, Kilgore, delivering an over-the-top physical performance that makes Kilgore’s unlikely blend of skills believable
Ben Cutler and Fiona Wade bring us the Kiplings, who seem overwhelmed by their good fortune and their fifteen minutes of fame on an antiques-valuing TV show in which Adam Morris does an excellent cameo as the resident art expert, discussing the painting and its potential value.
As well as serving as inspiration for Hegarty, Henty also produced the prop paintings used on stage and supported set designer Adrian Linford for the section representing Hegarty’s studio, and this attention to detail really helps lift the whole. The set is spilt in two, with the Kiplings’ home on one side and Hegarty’s studio/Piper’s lair on the other. This, in tandem with Jason Taylor’s lighting design, is very effective in letting the action flow in a natural and uncontrived way. Moments of tension are enhanced by the sound design of Max Pappenheim.
This is undoubtedly one of the better stage adaptations of James’ Roy Grace stories; with double-dealing, forgeries and deception, it’s entertaining and well worth a punt.
Runs until 28 June 2025 and on tour