Tag: Barbet Schroeder

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REVIEW: Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Kym Marsh’s Hedy clasps Lisa Faulkner’s Allie in Rebecca Reid’s stage adaptation of A Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

HERE comes Single White Female at the double.

Journalist, author and writer Rebecca Reid’s new stage adaptation is not so much a doppelganger, in the style of Hedra’s identity thief, but a new spin on Swiss director Barbet Schroeder’s 1992 film and John Lutz’s 1990 source novel, SWF Seeks Same. One, however, still equipped with stilettos and a nerve-shredding elevator.

Correction, it is not an elevator, but a malfunctioning, screeching lift, as Reid has switched the location from Nineties’ New York apartment to an Elephant and Castle tower-block flat  with dodgy lighting and electrics in the invasive social-media age of 2026 London.

No stranger to the kitchen from her 2010 Celebrity MasterChef victory, cookery books and YouTube channel with husband chef John Torode, Lisa Faulkner returns to the stage after a 21-year hiatus and finds herself standing behind the island on Morgan Large’s open-plan set.

Lisa Faulkner in her first stage role in 21 years as London divorced mum and tech start-up boss Allie in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

Two doors lead to neighbouring bedrooms, a third to the lift, and, out of view, is the doorway to Faulkner’s divorced mum Allie’s bedroom. A glass panel gives views of a less-than-beautiful London skyline.

Large’s rectangular design is framed by Jason Taylor’s lighting, sparking on and off in blues and reds that pick out the eerie shape of a children’s cot above, accompanied by a child’s cries and echoing screams.

The misbehaving electrics, lift and lighting are matched at the outset by gremlins in Max Pappenheim’s sound design that thankfully dissipate as Tuesday’s press night progresses. The overall effect is deliberately unnerving, whether screeches, clunks, cries or sparks spitting from plugs, complemented by amusingly discordant slabs of musical discharge (even an instrumental segment from Radiohead’s Creep).

Single White Female’s Allie and Hedy (Kym Marsh) are no longer in their late 20s/early 30s. Allie has a 15-year-old  daughter, surly Bella (Amy Snudden), who is starting at a new school, and already consigned to the role of bullied misfit, after tech start-up boss Allie is found a new home by business partner Graham (Andro) in his tower block.

Amy Snudden’s troubled teenager Bella and Lisa Faulkner’s mum Allie in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

To make ends meet, Allie advertises for a flatmate (on social media of course). Fashion photographer Hedy replies, moves in and takes over the cooking, building bonds with Bella. Graham, buoyed by acquiring a new boyfriend through Grinder, keeps popping in, as does Allie’s “reformed” alcoholic ex-husband Sam (Jonny McGarrity), whose bond with daughter Bella remains strong, even if access is restricted.

Piece by piece, flash of light by flash of light, we learn of Hedy’s past, her loss of a child, spoiler alert, to cot death, and so Marsh portrays a more complex character than either Jennifer Jason Leigh’s film portrayal or indeed Marsh’s more openly villainous Cruella De Vil on her last visit to the Grand Opera House in 101 Dalmatians The Musical in November 2024.

Manipulation of social media and mobile phones is now Hedy’s weapon of choice, whether impersonating Allie on phone calls to the errant Bella’s school, tampering with Graham’s Grinder account or using her photographic training to help Bella to send a compromising A1-doctored post.

Reid’s script is snappy, witty, darkly humorous, surprising, suspenseful and up with the zeitgeist. If you have never heard the expression “situationship” before, as playground argot for “relationship”, you will here.

Seeing double: Jonny McGarrity’s Sam encounters Kym Marsh’s blonde Hedy in Allie’s dress in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

Reid riffs on Schroeder’s film, but makes those tropes her own, whether the startling lift noises, or the notorious stiletto when Marsh’s Hedy gives Sam a right eyeful as director Gordon Greenberg turns up the schlock horror without reaching for the histrionics.

Marsh, fresh from her tyrannical Beverley in Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party at Manchester’s Royal Academy, is terrific and, yes, ultimately terrifying as Hedy, never resorting to melodrama, but calculated, desperate and consumed by grief, jealousy and finally uncontrolled rage.

In a parallel story arc, the equally impressive Sneddon’s troubled  teenager descends into her own darkness with terrible consequences, warped by the machinations of electronic messaging and bullying.

Faulkner’s enervated Allie, Andro’s amenable Graham and McGarrity’s pliable Sam all contribute to the rising tide of tension emanating from Greenberg and Reid’s stylish, steely, stiletto-sharp psychological thriller.  Book now, but don’t wear stilettos.

Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Lisa Faulkner’s tech company boss Allie and Andro’s business partner Graham in a nerve-shredding moment in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

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Lisa Faulkner makes stage return after two decades in updated psychological thriller Single White Female at Grand Opera House

Gunning for her: A tense moment for Lisa Faulkner’s Allie as Kym Marsh’s Hedy reaches trigger point in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

LISA Faulkner is returning to the stage for the first time in 21 years to appear in Rebecca Reid’s re-imagining of 1990s’ psychological thriller Single White Female, now re-booted for the social media age.

Next stop on the world premiere’s six-month British and Irish tour will be the Grand Opera House from February 3 to 7 in her first visit to York since enjoying the delights of Bettys tea rooms with her grandparents when she was “very young”.

Actor, television presenter, 2010 Celebrity MasterChef winner, cookery book author, chef and mother Lisa will play recently divorced mum Allie, balancing being a single parent with the launch of her tech start-up.

When Allie decides to advertise for a lodger to help make ends meet, the delightful Hedy offers her a lifeline, but as their lives intertwine, boundaries blur and a seemingly perfect arrangement begins to unravel with chilling consequences.

Taking the role of Hedy on the road from January 9 to June 13 is Coronation Street, Waterloo Road and Abigail’s Party actor, TV presenter and Hear’Say pop singer Kym Marsh, who last appeared at the York theatre as villainous Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical in November 2024.

“I’m so full of joy to be taking on another challenge at 53. I feel very lucky,” says Lisa Faulkner

“I’m delighted to be returning to the stage playing opposite the utterly fantastic Kym Marsh,” says Lisa. “I got chills watching Single White Female in the cinema back in 1992, so it’s a real thrill to be part of this bold new production. I cannot wait to bring this fascinating story to life and keep audiences around the UK on the edge of their seats!”

Kym concurs: “I remember being totally gripped by the movie when I first saw it in the cinema and could never have imagined back then that I’d be starring in the world premiere of its life on stage. Get ready to be thrilled, shocked and entertained – and watch out for those stiletto heels!”

The new stage play, adapted by author, journalist and broadcaster Rebecca Reid, reworks the story from John Lutz’s novel SWF Seeks Same and Barbet Schroeder’s 1992 film (scripted by Don Roos), transferring the setting from a neo-Gothic New York building to a starker apartment tower block near Elephant & Castle in London in 2026.

Allison and Hedra are now named Allie and Hedy as Reid retains the dark humour and suspenseful storytelling in the updated tale of ambition, obsession, and the desperate need for belonging in an isolated world.

“It’s been a long time since I was on stage,” says Lisa. “The rehearsals and first couple of weeks were like, ‘oh my god, I’m doing this’, but it’s lovely to be back. I’m so full of joy to be taking on another challenge at 53. I feel very lucky.

“I really think this [opportunity] came from the sky. I have so many wonderful things I do, but there was a sense of timing to doing this. My daughter [Billie] is 19 and doing her own thing, so I don’t necessarily need to be at home, and also I had a conversation in the late summer with my two best friends about doing a theatre show.

Back in the kitchen, but this time Celebrity MasterChef winner Lisa Faulkner is on stage in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

“Angela [Waterloo Road actor and director Angela Griffin], suggested I should do a tour, though I didn’t say anything to my agent. But two or three weeks later I received the script for Single White Female.”

At first, Lisa felt reticent to read it. Once she did, however, she “really liked it”. “I said to John [husband John Torode], ‘I think I should do this’,” she recalls.

“I think Rebecca has done a very good job bringing it into the modern age, though also if someone has seen the film, there are some big nods to it, but it’s very different. You don’t have to have seen the film to enjoy the play.”

Describing Allie’s character in Reid’s version, Lisa says: “She’s recently divorced from a really rubbish husband and has moved into her best friend Graham’s apartment with her 15-year-old daughter, Bella. She needs a flatmate – enter Hedy, who answers her social media advert, and that’s when it starts unravelling.

“Bella is on social media too, so there’s a new storyline there, but the stilettos are still there, and so is the lift. Listen out for the screeching lift noise.

“It’s a really fun night out. There are a few jump scares but it’s much more of a ‘popcorn’ scare , and now there’s a message to it about thinking about what you put online, which is something we all have to think about. What’s great about it is that you now have Allie’s story, Hedy’s story, Bella’s story and Graham’s story too.”

Kym Marsh and Lisa Faulkner in the poster image for Single White Female

Single White Female promises to captivate, shock and explore “just how far we would go to find – and keep – a family together”. “I just think there’s so much depth to it, especially a depth of character. Hedy is less one-dimensional now; she has her reasons for being how she is, and she’s very dark, whereas Allie is the light.”

Lisa is performing with Kym Marsh for the first time. “We’ve both been in Waterloo Road but at different times,” she says. “Angela [Griffin] has directed her in Waterloo Road and said ‘you will love working with her’. Kym’s been such a joy and a real support too.”

Lisa conducted this interview on Tuesday while travelling to Cardiff Millennium Centre with husband John Torode [the former MasterChef presenter], and the couple are as busy as ever with their culinary commitments.

“We launched our cooking channel, John And Lisa’s Kitchen And Home, just before Christmas on You Tube, doing the filming for that on my days off, and we have some other stuff coming up,” she says. “We have a John and Lisa cookery range coming out – some lovely pots and pans and utensils – that I’m really excited about.”

Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.