Sleuth Will Keep You on Your Toes and on the Edge of Your Seat as This Classic Thriller Hits The Guthrie Stage

I’m fairly familiar with Sleuth, though I’d never seen it performed. I have seen the two film versions, which have their own interesting backstory. The play, written by Anthony Shaffer, premiered in 1970 and won the Tony Award for Best Play. It was adapted by Shaffer into a film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

The play was adapted again in 2007 with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, who had never seen the earlier film or the play before. That film, directed by Kenneth Branagh, starred Michael Caine again, this time in the older role, with Jude Law taking over the part Caine played in the original film. Few plays have such an interesting lineage, where one generation of actors quite literally inherits the roles from the previous one.

Which made it a particular pleasure to finally see the original version as it was intended: on stage.

The two-act play is a cat-and-mouse game between Andrew Wyke, a writer of mystery novels, and Milo Tindle, who owns a travel agency and happens to want to marry Andrew’s wife. Andrew says he has no objections; he just wants to make sure that Milo can afford her and won’t find her back on his doorstep. Andrew has a plan to have Milo pretend to burglarize his house and make off with a fortune in jewels, which Milo can sell for cash while Andrew collects on the insurance money. But is it as straightforward as that? Is that even straightforward? The twists and turns are what make the show such an enjoyable entertainment, so discussing the plot any further feels like robbing it of its bread and butter.

John Tufts as Milo and Ramiz Monsef as Andrew both do solid work. Tufts in particular is very good, and while Sleuth isn’t exactly a comedic thriller, the performers find quite a bit of black comedy to play with.

That said, I was a little disappointed in the Guthrie for bringing in a cast of out-of-towners rather than utilizing the deep bench of talent we have here in the Twin Cities. Monsef also strikes me as a little young for Andrew. I couldn’t help imagining what someone like David Andrew Macdonald might have done with that role, with Peter Christian Hansen as Milo.

Rounding out the supporting cast is a particularly droll performance by Stanley Rushton as Inspector Doppler, with smaller roles for Liam McNulty and Robin Mayfield as fellow policemen.

I always say that a play that uses black wooden boxes to stand in for every piece of set can be just as thrilling as a set that costs the budget of some theater companies’ entire seasons. And I believe that to be true. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love a well-dressed and elaborate set. Todd Rosenthal has created a playroom of a set, which you can see in the accompanying photo, and it’s a thing of beauty.

If you enjoy a twisty-turny mystery, Sleuth will be right up your alley. It’s a well-mounted production and the cast is really quite good, even if they aren’t local. Sleuth runs through May 10. I read in a program recently that Agatha Christie was single handedly keeping theater doors open. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but this is along those lines and should fill seats and entertain theatergoers.

For more information and to purchase tickets, go to:
https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2025-2026-season/sleuth/

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