A smooth, smart and slick psychodrama, with just a small smattering of satire, is coming to the stage in Welwyn Garden City. 

Psychological thriller Alys, Always opens at the Barn Theatre after Easter on Friday, April 14. 

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to live a life very different from your own? 

What if the opportunity to live a lifestyle that you have craved were to present itself to you, would you take it, regardless of the cost?

Would you let it consume you, or would you try to stay true to yourself?  

These are just some of the questions being posed in the next Barn Theatre production. 

Alys, Always is a modern psychological thriller that explores the idea of the outsider suddenly being given access to a forbidden world.

The play tells the story of Frances, a lowly sub-editor and general dogsbody on the books desk of a Sunday newspaper. She’s quiet and capable, but nobody takes much notice: her face is pressed to the window, on the outside looking in.

One evening, driving home in the rain after visiting her parents, she comes across an overturned car crumpled on the side of the road.

It’s a twist of fate which presents her with an opening into the heart of the family of a famous novelist, and into the world on the other side of the window.

How far is she prepared to go? And how many lies will she tell to stay there?

The director, Mel Powell, is effervescent when asked about his production.

“I love a play with an intriguing set-up, that entices you in, which rattles along at pace with a sparkling dialogue sprinkled with humour, which completely engrosses you, and which then wrong-foots you. 

"Alys, Always is exactly that sort of play! 

 

                                                                                                                                

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Just like the dark tense twister The Talented Mr Ripley and the revenge thriller The Wasp, which Mel directed in the Barn Studio, there’s something slightly uneasy, something slightly off-kilter, about Alys, Always. 

Whilst it has its roots in the old fashioned noir genre, it also offers a very contemporary twist; a bit like a classic Hitchcock thriller but with a Fleabag makeover.

Adapted for the stage by Lucinda Coxon, the play premiered at the Bridge Theatre in 2019, and is based on the novel by Harriet Lane.

“It is written almost like a screenplay and our staging reflects that,” continues Mel.

“We’ll be using a minimalist, multi-purpose set, and great lighting and sound design together with some atmospheric projection to help our terrific ensemble cast of 12 conjure up the many multiple locations and to instantaneously switch between them without the need for blackouts.”

And if that doesn’t sound challenging enough, the actress playing Frances is on the stage for the whole time.

The role of the unreliable narrator is in the capable hands of Jessica Drucker, last seen playing Julia Price, in last September’s production The Ghost Train, and it is a part she is absolutely relishing. 

“It has been a thrill”, Jess says, “getting into the mindset of such an intriguing, ambiguous character, who keeps the audience guessing right until the end!”

Mel concludes: “It’s great to be presenting a story which most of our audience will be seeing for the first time.

"There have been only two non professional productions before us. It’s a fantastic psychological thriller, but also often very funny in its digs at class, privilege and the arts world.”

  • Alys, Always opens on Friday, April 14, and runs through to Saturday, April 22, with evening performances at 8pm and a matinee on April 22 at 2.30pm.
  • Tickets are available from the Barn Theatre box office at www.barntheatre.co.uk