Reviewed by Paris Rogers

Opening Night verdict ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I feel lucky that I’ve not watched Fatal Attraction via Film or in the theatre before. It allowed me to have a completely clear slate and no comparison when writing this review.

Fatal Attraction by James Dearden follows Alex Forrest (Kym Marsh) as she takes us on an absolute roller-coaster of emotions ending in becoming unhealthy obsessed with Dan Gallagher (Oliver Farnworth) all resulting from a one night stand. 

The play had an extremely strong start, drawing me in with a spotlight on Dan Gallagher. His voice was clear and crisp and had a way of silencing the audience into their seats. It also started, light, upbeat and with Dan Gallagher in a happy marriage to Beth (Susie Amy). I sometimes struggle to gauge what’s going on in the beginning of a play and what relationship the characters have but the stereotypical marriage between the two was clear from the start and portrayed nicely on stage.

The set was almost black box theatre. Simple yet effective. The simplicity encouraged the audience to use more of their imagination and focus on the actors. It also permitted incredibly smooth scene changes. Video calls were used to transform the story from the 1980’s to modern day. I felt this was not needed and took the focus away from the dialogue and flow of the play. It felt awkward and pardon the pun, staged. However, I can understand that it is difficult to bring every scene of the film to the stage, these calls were a quick interject to keep the story moving.

There was an incredible amount of background noise used which set the scene but again took away the focus from the actors. I felt they had to work twice as hard to carry the scene along. This sometimes came across rushed and their accent fell now and then. 

Speaking of which, it is difficult enough to see facial expressions on stage without a lump of hair constantly covering an actor’s face. This meant the actors body language had an even greater role to play. At times this disappointingly did not match the dialogue. There were uncomfortable movements, especially walks off stage and jarred hand gestures throughout. 

One of the most iconic scenes in the film fell flat in the stage adaptation, when Dans wife Beth discovers her daughters pet rabbit has been boiled alive. I’m not certain how I would react if I found a cute bunny boiled on my stove, but I it wouldn’t be a single scream.

In comparison, Marsh put buckets of detail into her performance as Alex. The dialogue and scenes she had to deliver were undeniably challenging but she managed to make me feel compassion for her even at the evillest parts of her actions. Her approach to the character was not only exceptionally clever and thought through but made me constantly question her motives. Was she just ill and been taken advantage of or was she a calculated woman with hatred for men running through her veins? 

The ending to the play allowed me to interrogate two different scenarios in my mind. This permitted ongoing questions after leaving the theatre. The street was filled with different views and endings, it clearly provoked debates and conversations during and after.

Fatal Attraction is on at the Opera House until Saturday 26th February tickets available here.