Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch will open its Spring 2023 season with the world premiere of Ian Rankin and Simon Reade’s Rebus: A Game Called Malice, running from 2 – 25 February.

Playing the lead role of John Rebus is John Michie (Holby City, BBC), alongside Rebecca Charles (The Father, West End), Billy Hartman (Emmerdale, ITV); Emily Joyce (My Hero, BBC); Forbes Masson (The High Life, BBC); and Emma Noakes (Call The Midwife, BBC).

A splendid dinner party concludes with a game created by the hostess. A murder in a stately home needs to be solved. Suspects, clues and red herrings await… but the dinner-party guests have secrets of their own, threatened by the very game they are playing. And among them is Inspector John Rebus. True crime is his calling – is he playing an alternative game, one to which only he knows the rules? There is danger with every twist and turn – and a shocking discovery will send this game called Malice hurtling towards a gasp-inducing conclusion.

Rebus: A Game Called Malice will be directed by the award-winning Robin Lefevre, with design by Terry Parsons, lighting by Matthew Eagland, and composition and sound by Garth McConaghie.=

Writer Ian Rankin said: “I’m thrilled that audiences can experience an all-new Rebus story at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch. This is as twisty and fun a tale as I’ve ever spun. With a cracking cast, it promises to be a dynamite night at the theatre!”

John Michie, playing Rebus says: "This play dives into an Edinburgh social scene that I know well and doesn't come up for air for two hours of intrigue, tension and drama. I cannot wait to get stuck into the mind of John Rebus and the effortless, electric writing of Ian Rankin and Simon Reade."

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