The Da Vinci Code – Richmond Theatre, London

Writer: Dan Brown

Adaptors: Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel

Director: Luke Sheppard

The popularity of the Robert Langdon books and movie franchise is staggering, and The Da Vinci Code, the second instalment in the series, was by far the most popular. The book has sold over 80 million copies worldwide, and in the year of its release was bettered only by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The movie adaptation was the fourth highest grossing movie that year and has thus far made over £760 million at the box office.

And yet, critical reception has always been rather mixed. Its historical inaccuracies have proved controversial (along with the subject matter itself), and several prominent authors and critics have panned it, with Stephen King going so far as to call it the “intellectual equivalent of microwaveable mac and cheese”.

So, it’s been tremendously successful on one hand while being beaten to a pulp with the other. It is interesting, therefore, to see what the play adaptation brings to the party. From the same team that adapted The Girl on the Train (Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel), the script offers a pared down version of the book, omitting the action-packed car chases and applying a significant amount of artistic licence with large aspects of the plot. It’s a fair attempt, but it suffers from the same issues that plague many other famous movie (and book) adaptations, that it will always struggle to beat something that was conceived specifically for the stage.

The show opens with us in the middle of the Louvre, faced with the grisly murder scene of its curator, Jacques Sauniere. In his final moments, the head of an ancient brotherhood leaves a message for his granddaughter Sophie (played by Hannah Rose Caton) and symbologist Professor Langdon (played by Christopher Harper). This marks the start of a treasure hunt of epic proportions with biblical implications.

The cast is generally strong, and brings a commitment and energy to the performance which can often be found wanting in shows this deep into a tour. The direction is also good, though there are some sequences which come across as a little lazy (group movement scenes for example), and there are some inconsistent accent choices which can be distracting.

The set is excellent, as are the sound and music design. In fact, the production value overall is very impressive, particularly given it gets put up and ripped down in a different venue every week.

Those who know and revere the books and films will find enough to like, but those without the benefit of experience may struggle to follow some of it. The nature of the story means most of the dialogue is exposition, which gets exhausting quickly, and some of the more enjoyable parts of the book and film are cut, which does make this feel more of a tribute to the franchise rather than a work in its own right.

There’s enough about it to be worth seeing, and it’s as good as the other touring shows on offer, but as with most adaptations, it doesn’t beat the book.

Runs until 7 May and continues to tour