All you need to do is walk from the theatre to the car park after the final curtain, and listen to the comments.

On that basis, 'Dead Man's Hand' by Seymour Matthews, running until June 28, is a great big hit.

The excited, cheery chatter was all very positive, and the full house enjoyed the play every bit as much as I did.

The curtain rises on an elegant lounge, in an isolated villa in Italy. Kate and Martin, played by Hilary Tasker and Alan Christison, enter with suitcases.

They are more than a little surprised a few minutes later when Derek and Angela, played by Steven Proctor and Caroline Pennant Jones, also enter with suitcases.

Both couples have been granted use of the villa by a mysterious Konakiss, with whom the men have had business dealings. Then along comes an Italian, Franco, whose car has been punctured and who needs to make a 'phone call. Franco is played by Geoff Bray, wearing a wig that looks as if it might once have circumnavigated something that went miaow for a living.

The 'phone is cut off. There are no vehicles. There is no way of communicating with the outside world.



Inevitably, as if one has switched on the telly and found Taggart, there is a murder. Then another.

But the whole play then stands on its head as it transpires that we have been watching actors staging a play in a remote house in England - for a mysterious person, whom none of them have met.

Enter the stage manager, Pamela, played by Pat McInroy, who is trying to find one of the cast members who had gone missing.

But do not think that the opening scenes were a waste of time. Eerie parallels begin to appear, as do corpses. Theory upon theory pound through the heads of the audience, but I was certainly a long way from it when the denouement came.

We have a top-class cast in 'Dead Man's Hand', and all were on form on the first night. Congratulations should also go to producer Alan Johnston, who kept things moving at a fast pace from the very start - and also from the second start!

I can recommend 'Dead Man's Hand' as an intriguing night out which also has moments of humour as characters struggle to come to terms with reality.

The brilliant set was constructed by Dave Ferguson, Ian Anderson, Bob Sawley, Sandy Wallace, John Scott, Bob Johnston and Jim Jamieson; and painted by Caroline Pennant Jones, Roz Armstrong, Dorothy Parfitt and Lorraine McCouaig.

Stage manager is Emma Smart, assisted by Veronika Hyblova; lighting and sound are by Stephen Gilbert and Cath Eddie; costumer adviser, Lex Sawley; publicity, Ann Smith; front of house Bob Sawley and theatre members; catering, Shona Gibb and theatre members.

There is an excellent art exhibition in the upper coffee lounge by members of the Lochside Art Group, Montrose, who are taught by Arbroath artist Frank McDiarmid.

There are two more Abbey Theatre productions in the pipeline: the youth group present 'The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Production of Macbeth' from July 2 to 5; and the seniors will stage 'Heaven Can Wait' a light drama with music by David Cosgrove, from August 25 to September 6. It contains lots of '50s music, and is set at the time of the plane crash on February 3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens lost their lives.
G.W.C.