The Daughter of Time – Charing Cross Theatre

It must be the ultimate cold case: the investigation of the reputation of Richard the Third and his involvement in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower. This is the task which Inspector Alan Grant sets himself when he is laid up in bed convalescing from an injury in M Kilburg Reedy’s new play, based on the renowned book by Josephine Tey.

The setting is Grant’s rather spacious hospital room, where nurses are encouraging their reluctant patient to undertake the necessary exercises to ensure his full recovery. His interest in King Richard is stimulated by a portrait provided to him by a friend. Using his police skills and assistance from a number of friends and acquaintances, he obtains as many contemporary accounts as he can to try and uncover the truth behind the life of Richard and the fate of the princes. This is not a new debate, ever since Shakespeare wrote his famous play many have questioned whether his portrait of Richard as a scheming evil King was correct, but the spin which Tey and Reedy put on it makes for a fascinating evening of theatre.

Rob Pomfret plays Alan Grant. It is not easy acting from the prone position he has to adopt for the first half of the play, but Pomfret carried it off splendidly. When he was able to move out of his bed in the second half, he was able to inject more energy into his performance. The remaining characters were an odd bunch: his friend Marta, played by Rachel Pickup, cut a very striking figure with clear, romantic designs on Grant. She and her actor friend Nigel Templeton, played by Noah Huntley, set up a subplot to entrap Grant into romance.  Helping Grant in his investigations is an overenthusiastic American researcher Brent, played with great energy by Harrison Sharpe. Grant’s colleague Sargeant Williams from Scotland Yard, played by Sanya Adegbola, tries to keep investigation to modern police evidential standards.  All these characters were slightly over drawn, but this seemed appropriate for the context. A nice touch was the use of the three nurses who interrupted the investigations periodically to remind Grant of the priority of his medical recovery. Giving one of the nurses, played by Jenna Fox, an interest in history made an interesting foil for Grants’ developing theories.

The setting was primarily the hospital room with a single entrance, a window and hospital bed. A clever revolve was used for the scenes in the Ivy, where Marta and Nigel meet, and a simple curtain provided the old Vic backdrop for Nigel’s soliloquies from the Shakespeare play. I felt it was a pity that the director had chosen to set the hospital bed so far back, as it would have made it easier for Pomfret and the audience had he been closer to the front of the stage.

There are a large number of short scenes, but excellent direction by Jenny Eastop kept the action moving at an impressive pace. The frequent entrances through the single door were managed superbly. I did find the dialogue difficult to hear at times, and in the final scene where Grant and Marta recite a scene from Much Ado About Nothing they allowed their voices to drop too far.

This is a fascinating and informative evening of theatre, and even though it lasted for three hours including the interval, it was never tedious. Some familiarity with Shakespeare’s play and the events around Richard’s reign will help comprehension of a quite complicated narrative. As with all crime literature our hero’s final verdict on the responsibility for the murder of the young princes cannot be revealed here.

The Daughter of Time is playing at the Charing Cross Theatre until 13th September 2025. Tickets are available from  https://www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/

Reviewer: Paul Ackroyd

Reviewed: 25th July 2025

North West End UK Rating: