''Sleuth'' is a 1970

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

written by Anthony Shaffer. The Broadway production received the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Play, and Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter received the

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

for Outstanding Performance. The play was adapted for feature films in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Plot summary

The play is set in the

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

manor house of Andrew Wyke, an immensely successful mystery writer. Wyke's home reflects his obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures his wife's lover Milo Tindle to the house and convinces him to stage a robbery of her jewelry. This proposal sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher where Wyke's imagination ends and reality begins. Shaffer said the play was partially inspired by one of his friends, composer

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

, whose intense interest in game-playing is mirrored by the character of Wyke, and by mystery writer John Dickson Carr, whose stories featured complex plots and seemingly "impossible" crimes.

Production

Directed by Clifford Williams, ''Sleuth'' opened on 12 January 1970 at the Royal Theatre in Brighton, England then transferred from 12 February 1970 to St Martin's Theatre, London with Anthony Quayle as Andrew Wyke and Keith Baxter as Milo Tindle. It had several changes of cast and venue in its run of 2,359 performances in the West End with

Marius Goring Marius Re Goring (23 May 191230 September 1998) was an English stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell and Pressburger, Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in ''A Matter of Life and D ...

as Andrew Wyke and John Fraser then

Anthony Valentine Anthony Valentine (17 August 1939 – 2 December 2015) was an English actor best known for his television roles: the ruthless Toby Meres in '' Callan'' (1967–72), the sadistic Major Horst Mohn in '' Colditz'' (1972–74), the suave titular g ...

as Milo Tindle having the longest run in the play between August 1971 and March 1973. It transferred to the Garrick Theatre in March 1973 for seven months then finished its run at the

Fortune Theatre The Fortune Theatre is a 432-seat West End theatre in Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster. From 1989 until 2023 the theatre hosted the long running play '' The Woman in Black''. History The site was acquired by aut ...

in October 1975. The play also transferred to the United States and opened on Broadway on November 12, 1970, at the

Music Box Theatre The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1921, the Music Box ...

, which ran for 1,222 performances. Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter starred as Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle, with other parts listed as played by Stanley Wright, Sydney Maycock and Liam McNulty. When Quayle left the production in 1972, he was succeeded by Paul Rogers, George Rose and Patrick Macnee. Baxter was succeeded by Brian Murray then Donal Donnelly, Jordan Christopher and Curt Dawson.

Accolades

''Sleuth'' received the 1971

for Best Play, and received nominations for Best Direction of a Play (Clifford Williams) and Best Lighting Design (William Ritman). Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter received the

for Outstanding Performance. ''Sleuth'' also received the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

for Best Play.

Film adaptations

In 1972, Shaffer adapted his play for film, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

and

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...

. Another film adaptation was released in 2007 with a screenplay by

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

. The 2007 film was directed by

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

, starring

and

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He began his career in theatre before landing small roles in various British television productions and feature films. Law gained international recognition for his role in An ...

as Milo Tindle, originally played by Caine in the 1972 version.

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...

«Игра» («The Game»), 1978. Cast: Vladimir Etush (Andrew Wyke), Yury Yakovlev (Milo Tindle). The play inspired Raja Dasgupta's Bengali film ''Tiktiki'', released in 2012. The film starred Soumitra Chattopadhyay and Kaushik Sen. The play was also the basis for the film '' Tamanna''. Whilst some of the interactions between the two men are similar, the film has roles for not just Wyke's wife, but also his second, younger wife, the Tindle character's object of desire, and the outcome for the characters is darker. The milieu is Pakistan's film industry, Lollywood in its dying days, and is used as an allegory of wider issues. The dialogue, in Urdu, and the scenario are adapted in numerous ways for both Pakistani and Islamic culture. In 2022, Bengali director Dhrubo Banerjee's first web series, titled '' Tiktiki'', which stars Kaushik Ganguly and Anirban Bhattacharya in the lead roles. Inspired by the play, the series was released on Hoichoi, on 18 March 2022. The series is also announced to be the platform's 100th original series.

References

External links

* * * * {{TonyAwardBestPlay 1947-1975 1970 plays Broadway plays Detective, mystery and crime plays Drama Desk Award–winning plays British plays adapted into films Tony Award–winning plays Thriller plays Comedy thriller plays Two-handers Culture in Wiltshire Works by Anthony Shaffer (writer)