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MURDER, mystery and suspense arrived at its intended destination as Strangers On A Train pulled into The Haymarket.

While many of the audience may have been familiar with Alfred Hitchcock's classic version of this tale, playwright Craig Warner has chosen to base his interpretation on crime author Patricia Highsmith's original novel.

Charles Bruno (Nick Barclay) and Guy Haines (Ben Roddy) meet, apparently by accident, as passengers on an American train journey in the 1950s.

The former is a chillingly charismatic playboy, while the latter is an up-and-coming architect.

While both appear to have little in common apart from being middle-aged men, it soon becomes apparent that both Bruno and Haines have people in their lives that are making things a tad difficult.

Bruno's father holds the family purse strings, while Haines' philandering wife is proving to be an embarrassment in his professional life and a hindrance to his romance with new girlfriend Anne Faulkner (Hannah Waterman).

Consequently, Bruno comes up with the idea of dealing with each other's problem by executing the perfect pair of murders.

If Bruno were to murder Haines' wife and Haines was to return the favour with Bruno's father, the pair could then get on with their lives with little fear of capture by the authorities.

However, while Haines takes the suggestion lightly, Bruno is deadly serious, resulting in fatal consequences.

Nick Barclay, as Bruno, has the toughest task of all the characters, as Robert Walker's depiction in the 1951 film is the heart of that piece.

However, Barclay makes the role his own, creating Bruno as a three-dimensional person.

He is amusing and psychotic, ruthless and weak, relying on both the bottle and his mother's affection to give him a sense of worth.

Ben Roddy also puts in a solid turn as Haines, a desperate man who finds his life falling apart as he gets sucked deeper and deeper into Bruno's deadly deceptions.

As the famous face in the cast, Hannah Waterman (from TV's EastEnders) is enjoyable in the role of Haines' new love.

However, her lack of height compared with her co-stars does make for unfortunate comparisons with the Little Britain spoof of her father Dennis, for those aware of the family relationship.

The minimalist set allows the play to keep up a fast pace throughout, and the use of split-focus makes excellent use of the medium of theatre.

My one slight criticism of the production would be the overuse of sinister music. Although this is supposed to add to the tension before our eyes, it often felt intrusive or inappropriate, but this did little to affect my enjoyment.

Overall, a brilliant adaptation with a top-class cast (with faultless US accents to boot), that allows an excellent tale to reach a new audience.

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