Review: Is Picture You Dead at Milton Keynes Theatre a masterpiece?

George Rainsford (of TV’s Casualty fame) was back to reprise the role of famous literary detective, DSI Roy Grace, who he played in the 2023 hit production of Wish You Were Dead.

Set in Brighton, Grace investigates a cold case murder which is intertwined with the present day.

Unsuspecting couple Harry and Freya Kipling (Ben Cutler and Fiona Wade) unwittingly buy a potentially long-lost masterpiece in a car boot sale for £20, but their discovery places them in untold danger.

Freya reckons the artwork is “disgusting”, but the down on their luck duo have the shock of their lives when they take it along to the Antiques Roadshow for a valuation and are told by presenter Oliver De Sousa (Adam Morris) that it could be worth up to £5million – cue hilarity where Harry swears to camera and they have to reshoot a toned down pre-watershed reaction for the TV audience.

The revelation puts the Kiplings in a bit of a panic as they wonder what to do with such a priceless possession. Putting it safely in storage until it can be auctioned while getting their artist friend/expert forger Dave Hegarty to produce them a cheap copy they can hang on their wall for the time being, seems the best option. But with his dubious past can they really trust Hegarty? He was played briliantly by Peter Ash and you’re left guessing until the very end where his allegiences truly lie.

The airing of the TV episode brings sinister art collector Stuart Piper out of the woodwork and his henchwoman Roberta Kilgore who are desperate to get their hands on the original.

These characters (the excellent Nicholas Maude and Jodie Steele) bring an extremely believable and menacing presence to the stage. After a failed bid to make the Kiplings part for the painting on the cheap when Roberta poses as a Sotherby’s valuer, they then have a far more devious and elaborate plan up their sleeve. This involves threatening Hegarty so he’ll produce yet another copy of the artwork, and getting a known burglar to swap the paintings once he’s got inside the Kiplings’ home.

With so many fakes doing the rounds, this wasn’t so much a “whodunnit” crime drama where we were trying to work out who the killer was (as it appeared quite clear who the main villains were), but more a “who’s got it” as we pondered who had and who would end up with the valuable original.

The couple of plot twists right near the end were extremely clever and although you might have anticipated a curve ball or two being thrown, I genuinely didn’t anticipate the direction it took.

The music throughout the evening set the mood perfectly, while the set design was impressive, particularly the couple’s home and Hegarty’s art studio which doubled as Piper’s lair (complete with secret room).

Picture You Dead is at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday and it’s a masterpiece. Book your tickets here.