Toon visit is Rankin high on Ian’s list
AUTHOR ON TYNESIDE TO SEE STAGE VERSION OF HIS NOVEL
FANS of one of fiction’s most famous sleuths Rebus are in for a double treat when the stage version comes to Newcastle for a week-long run - starting on Monday.
Not only do they have the chance to enjoy the acclaimed production - ‘Rebus: Long Shadows’ - at the Theatre Royal, they might also find themselves rubbing shoulders with its famous author Ian Rankin.
He said: “I have seen it twice, in Birmingham and Edinburgh, and I have tickets for Wednesday or Thursday in Newcastle.
“I am really looking forward to it. My son spent a year at university a few years back in Newcastle so I visited fairly regularly and I also did an event at the Lit and Phil.”
Fans of his many books will know a few, as Rankin puts it, “naughty characters” from Newcastle have featured in them over the years.
His books are international bestsellers which have been translated into 36 languages and won him multiple awards including four The Crime Writers Association Dagger Awards and in 2004 received America’s celebrated Edgar Award.
He is also the recipient of the OBE for services to literature.
Long Shadows marks the stage debut of Rebus, a play written exclusively for the stage by Rankin with award-winning playwright Rona Munro.
He added: “It is a completely different way of telling a story.
“Novelists are pretty lazy people who use as many words, as many pages and as many characters as we need. That all becomes compressed.
“Rona kept me right in terms of scene changes and costumes changes from the get-go.”
He said it was important it was a new story which would not work as a novel but as a piece of physical theatre he was keen “to see in 3D.”
Up until recently Rebus had been played by former Coronation Street star Charles Lawson but due to TV commitments he has had to leave the production.
Fans of the Rebus TV series will recognise his replacement Ron Donachie, while radio fans will recognise his voice.
Doncashie has played the title role in all six BBC Radio dramatisations of Rebus since 2008 and has also played Deputy Chief Inspector Gunner in the TV series. (Game of Throne fans will know his as Ser Roderick Cassell).
The premise for the play, which premiered last year and proved hugely popular, is we meet DI Rebus in retirement but with the ominous shadows of his former life still following him through the streets of Edinburgh.
Whisky has helped but now he is denying himself that pleasure.
When the daughter of a murder victim appears outside his flat, he is back on the case and off the wagon….
Rankin enjoyed the experience of writing the play and seeing it on stage, so will there be a second Rebus play?
He said: “I have been asked but it is a matter of finding the time and finding the right story which can be told in the theatre.”
He said he is contracted to writing one more book which “takes priority over everything else.”
A Rebus novel? Rankin added: “It does not have to be.. The contract is not for a Rebus book.”
He said the story comes first and whether it features Rebus or not comes second.
As well as Donachie as Rebus, the play also stars John Stahl (Being Human and Game of Thrones) as Big Ger Cafferty and Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa and Band of Gold) plays detective sergeant Siobhan Clarke.
It is directed by Robin Lefevre, an award-winning theatre director who has worked extensively in the UK, Ireland and the United States.
* REBUS: Long Shadows is at Newcastle Theatre Royal from February 25 to March 2, evenings at 7.30 and matinees on Thursday at 2.00 and Saturday at 2.30.
Tickets from £16 can be purchased from the Theatre Royal box office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge) or book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk.