Alys, Always: A superbly disquieting psychological thriller

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The Kyte family are comforted by Frances's rendition of Alys's last few moments and, seeing an opportunity to ingratiate herself further with the family, she embroiders the truth somewhat. Frances, a sub-editor on the books pages of a newspaper, lives alone in her London flat and seems to be a forgettable, ordinary, beige person, who is resigned to a perfunctory life in an average world. The world of culture and privilege that the family inhabits seems within touching distance for Frances, if she can just play her cards right.

She’s quiet and capable, but nobody takes much notice: her face is pressed to the window, on the outside looking in. But, as the story reveals, Frances is not content or beige; she is clever, she notices things, and she is patient. One of the literary debuts of 2012, Harriet Lane's stylish thriller combines an unreliable female narrator with some sly satire at the expense of literary London. Driving home at night after Christmas at her parents’, she witnesses a car accident and sits with the injured driver waiting for the ambulance.

I soon realized that Frances saw her opportunity and wanted to use it, exploit it--to move ahead into another social and professional stratum. But Hytner’s pace is a bit too steady, and you feel like there should be a big twist coming; as I saw we were minutes away from the end it became clear it would never materialise. Nicholas Hytner’s Bridge Theatre sometimes feels overwhelmed by a sense of unrealised potential: it can command the best playwrights, actors and directors in the world, but has yet to really knock it out of the park with a piece of new writing. The Kytes operate in a gilded world of casual privilege, which snaps open to offer Frances a tantalising glimpse of possibilities to which she has previously been denied access. Earlier this year the Daily Telegraph ran a teaser in its print edition: ‘Jemima Khan: My verdict on the shake-up at Radio 2’.

That doesn’t happen here, and maybe the sense of her conspiracy with the audience slightly blunts the darker intent of the story. And her patience pays off one night when an accident gives her the opportunity to change her life and become one of life's elite. Theatre includes, for The Bridge: A Christmas Carol, Beat the Devil, Talking Heads, A German Life and Alys, Always. She then stays with the woman, Alice Kite, giving her words of comfort and encouragement while awaiting arrival of the ambulance.We strive to create a safe and inclusive environment for all members of the cast and creative team, regardless of their race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity and will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment.

It's uneasy but intriguing reading thanks to the accurate illustration of her middle class characters. Alys’ widower is the Booker Prize-winning novelist Laurence Kyte (Robert Glenister ,) who’s become reclusive in his mourning. But at the opening night of Alys, Always, I ran into a prominent younger British playwright who told me he was making his first visit to the venue - and I replied, "You've not missed much.

I had already read the author's book HER, and I was impressed to the point of wanting to continue reading. Anyway, Lucinda Coxon's adaptation of journalist Harriet Lane's 2012 bestseller for the Bridge Theatre starts off with Frances ( Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt) coming across a fatal car crash in which Alys, a woman she doesn't know, is killed. Sitting with the family over a glass of wine, Frances sees that Polly's neediness might just be her route into the Kyte family and, through Polly, Frances might just find her way into Laurence's life - which, of course, is her main aim. Alys, Always is a muted experiment for Hytner, whose more recent productions – Julius Caesar, Allelujah! What then follows is Frances Thorpe giving those reading her story a total masterclass in opportunism and social climbing as she inveigles her way in to the lives of the Kytes, through deceit, manipulation and flattery.