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Inspired by two well-known historical figures, William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, Secrets portrayed the straining relationship of two contemporary lovers, will and Chris, as each, in turn. reveals secrets to the other. Like Marlowe, the modern Chris is acting as a government spy. Inadvertently he learns of a conspiracy to murder a well-known public figure and plans to flee, with Will, for his own life. This is Chris's final secret and before he can escape he is himself, like Marlowe, murdered.
In her first venture into playwriting, Jane Martin is to be congratulated for her imaginative script and considered directing. The piece proceeds at a lively pace and successfully manages to maintain the tension throughout. The dialogue for the most part works well and was well handled by Tim Spencer (Chris) and Martin Tidy (Will), who both turned in nicely judged performances. The periodic appearances of two nameless figures (ultimately responsible for Chris's demise) to suggest a darker theme at play was a nice touch, as were the spoken poetic links between scenes. There were, perhaps, one or two secrets too many for the audience to digest and the overall effect of this was to create a sustained atmosphere of angst as successive secrets piled into one another. Will's revelation that he has children from a previous relationship was met with a response from Chris that lacked genuine surprise and was all too readily brushed aside. This was a pity as it provided a real opportunity to build some depth into the relationship and add colour to the characters. Other minor criticisms would point out that shutting down a laptop computer is not achieved by clamping it shut and that the clothes iron looked as alien in the hands of Will as it would have in those of his sixteenth century namesake.
Overall, Secrets was engaging and entertaining. Jane Martin deserves much credit for her work and we should all hope that she will continue to produce work of such a high standard.
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