There is swagger to this thriller by Polly Stenham, the playwright who in 2007 at the age of 20 burst on to the stage with her debut play That Face. Set in a posh hotel located on an island with views of Malaysia and Indonesia, this play about marital betrayal becomes a critical exploration of British foreign aid policy.
Robert (Tom Beard) is all mea culpa about the online, though unconsummated, affair he had. His politician wife Vivienne (Hermione Gulliford) has had to resign as Trade Secretary as a result of humiliating press coverage. The holiday, with their 17-year-old son Ralph (Tom Rhys Harries) and 14-year-old daughter Frankie (Shannon Tarbet), is intended to get them away from it all. Instead, it drops them right into a terrifying mess caused by Vivienne's ministerial decision.
It would be wrong to reveal how this family drama becomes a violent thriller. But anyone who has stayed at one of those faraway getaways for the super rich, where the towels are sculpted into the shape of swans, will know the incongruity that results when the world's most privileged people travel to the some of the most destitute corners of the world to relax. It's gripping stuff but dramatically and thematically, the play leaves you hanging. Maybe one day Stenham will write the second half.