A COAT OF VARNISH by Ronald Millar
Suggested by a novel by C.P. Snow
Venue: Richmond 1982
Directed by Anthony Quayle

Cast
Peter Barkworth
Anthony Quayle
John Barron
 Stacey Gregg
Simon Shaw
Nicholas Brent
Robert Duncan
Petronella Ford
Kenneth Owens
Charles Rea
Carmen Silvera

Review
Time Out: Ann McFerran
 On transfer to the Haymarket

The programme tells us that Ronald Millar’s A Coat Of Varnish was suggested by the novel by C.P. Snow. It could also have been suggested by the Monday Club or the Moral Rearmament Movement for it is resolutely concerned with Declining Moral Standards and the need for Law and Order in England today. A retiring, tubercular gentleman detective (Peter Barkworth) determines to solve the mystery of the murder of an ageing SW1 Grande Dame (Dulcie Gray) because she represents the “gentle” England of his youth. Obviously the suspects must be those who offend the moral codes of that green and pleasant land: can it be Susan who sleeps around and relishes sex? Can it be her bisexual soldier boyfriend? Can it be Humphrey who was a Red sympathiser in his youth? Or could it be the Doctor who fiddles his taxes? Some of the actors put up a brave fight but mostly they succumb to this heavy-handed production. Not since C.P. Snow’s The Case In Question has the West End been blessed with such a dodo.