Sepehr Reybod as Milo Tindle and Patrick Galligan as Andrew Wyke in 'Sleuth.'David Cooper/Supplied
- Title: Sleuth
- Written by: Anthony Shaffer
- Director: Peter Fernandes
- Company: Shaw Festival
- Venue: Court House Theatre
- City: Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
- Year: Runs until Oct. 9, 2026
There’s an argument to be made that Sleuth, the suave thriller now playing at the Shaw Festival, is unreviewable.
Don’t get me wrong: Peter Fernandes’s production in the Court House Theatre is dandy, its cast utterly watchable. But unlike in other mysteries – the Agatha Christies and Arthur Conan Doyles that more often populate the Shaw’s programming – Sleuth doesn’t build to some narrative twist, breadcrumbing its audience through red herrings and false reveals.
Rather, the entire production is the twist: You’d be wise to read the program, and particularly the actor biographies therewithin, with a cocked eyebrow. (You’d be equally wise to catch a play at the Court House on a day it’s not raining. At the performance I attended, during a classic Southwestern Ontario storm, the theatre’s ceiling sagged with water, adding an unintentional level of suspense to the matinee as the audience trepidatiously peered at the bloated roof above.)
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Rain aside, there’s only so much that can be said about Sleuth without spoiling the production, which ought to be experienced as blindly as possible. (Unless, of course, you’ve seen Sleuth’s 1972 film adaptation, starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine – in which case, it’s still worth catching the stage show to see how Fernandes and his team pull it off.)
Broadly, Sleuth follows a quarrel between Andrew Wyke (Patrick Galligan) and Milo Tindle (Sepehr Reybod). Wyke is a mystery writer with a devilish sense of humour; Tindle is in love with Wyke’s wife and seeks to marry her.
A game, or series of games, soon unspools, a seductive tango of risky bets and sharp wits. At first, Wyke seems amenable to the idea of parting ways with the materialistic Marguerite – but then, all of a sudden, he isn’t. Chaos ensues; a gun goes off; a clown costume, complete with big shoes, becomes instrumental to the action.
Sleuth follows a quarrel between Wyke, a mystery writer with a devilish sense of humour, and Tindle, who is in love with Wyke’s wife and seeks to marry her.David Cooper/Supplied
And then Sleuth goes completely off its rails.
Fernandes, artistic associate at Crow’s Theatre in Toronto, is best known in Niagara-on-the-Lake for his work as an actor: Chris Abraham’s One Man, Two Guvnors, in which Fernandes starred as the hungry Francis in 2024, is among the Shaw Festival’s strongest, funniest productions since the pandemic. Fernandes will return to the Festival Theatre stage in One for the Pot (also directed by Abraham) later this season.
But with Sleuth, the artist makes a compelling case for himself as a director at the fest. Anthony Shaffer’s text lends itself well to Fernandes’s skill set: The play demands an embodied understanding of slapstick humour, sleight of hand and the comedic mechanics of British farce, all of which Fernandes has. And while Shaffer’s script shows its age in places – the play uses quite a few racial slurs to tease out its plot and characters – Fernandes wrangles it well, coaxing out performances from the actors that firmly ground the story in the respectability politics of the past.
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It’s an auspicious directorial debut for one of this country’s most gifted actors, and while some production details could be ironed out – Reybod’s faux-English accent, mostly – the creative team successfully elevates Shaffer’s text.
Sim Suzer’s set is particularly effective: Nearly every flat surface is decorated with the black-and-white squares of a chess board, subtly reinforcing the idea that in Sleuth, everything is a game, from Tindle’s first arrival at Wyke’s manor to the duo’s final duel. Joyce Padua’s costumes, too, elegantly conceal the trick of the second act.
Performance-wise, Galligan and Reybod spar with the chemistry demanded by a cat-and-mouse battle of smarts: Galligan ably overcomes the play’s lugubrious exposition, injecting the text with the role’s requisite, high-energy smarm. Reybod, meanwhile, arguably has the harder role – the part of Tindle has a great many layers to it – and he leans into its zany antics with grace and vitality.
Sleuth is a worthy addition to any Shaw Festival itinerary and a promising start to the 2026 season, writes Aisling Murphy.David Cooper/Supplied
As for the rest of Sleuth’s billed ensemble – Philip Mayfield, Liam McNulty and Stanley Rushton – you’ll have to see for yourself how they fare against the formidable Reybod and Galligan.
All this in mind, Sleuth isn’t life-changing: It’s neither a barnstorming comedy nor a particularly Shavian whodunit. But in material spring-loaded with traps – even the play’s very premise is misleading – Fernandes has risen to the challenge. And while I can’t say much more without ruining the show, I can say this: Sleuth is a worthy addition to any Shaw Festival itinerary, and, ceiling concerns notwithstanding, a promising start to the 2026 season.