Single White Female – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

Adaptor: Rebecca Reid

Director: Gordon Greenberg

Single White Female is based on the 1990s film, with necessary simplifications and amendments. Writing in the programme, Rebecca Reid comments on two of the major changes. In the film the Ansonia building, where Allie lives, becomes almost another character, but Reid decided, in the interests of realism, to turn it into a shoddily built new apartment. This in turn leads to an over-the-top sound plot, with the lift drowning out conversation in the flat, added to by frequent explosive pauses to dwell on such things as Sam’s alcoholism. The impression is of a production trying hard to ratchet up the tension.

The second change, however, proves an inspiration. To quote Reid, “Buddy the dog became Bella the teenager.” The character of Ally’s daughter is something of a collection of teenage bad habits: the wilfulness, the deliberate rudeness to her mother and Hedy, the furious strops, the self-pity, the willingness to try to exploit others’ weakness, above all the vein of cruelty cloaked in a veneer of meekness. But Reid’s writing and, above all, the performance of Amy Snudden give force to the character – and it’s worth mentioning that the unexpected twist at the end owes much to the role of Bella.

The plot is simple, the stages by which it advances almost imperceptible. Allie, divorced from Sam, is shocked to find that his new girlfriend, met during apparently successful rehab, is now pregnant and that he therefore will have to halve the money he gives her for Bella. Graham, a work mate and neighbour, suggests advertising for a flatmate – and that’s when the trouble starts. Hedy, an apparently charming photographer, moves in and sets about taking over Allie’s life. She relates Allie’s words (very different out of context) to Graham and provokes a temporary breach; she encourages Bella in avoiding school (which she hates), pushes her into drinking and vaping and perverts her into taking her revenge on schoolmates; she lies constantly and defends herself with a mask of innocence; and much more, ultimately attempting to seduce Sam, having persuaded him to turn to drink (suitably spiked, just to make sure).

Chekhov’s gun is a rule which states that, if there’s a gun on set, it will at some time be used – and so it is. Allie discovers a gun in Hedy’s room at the end of Act 1 and, despite Hedy’s protestations of innocence, much of Act 2 is concerned with plotting a way to the final bloodbath.

Andro (Graham) and Jony McGarrity (Sam) give sterling support, but the main interest of the production lies in the pairing of Kym Marsh and Lisa Faulkner. Faulkner is convincing as Allie, buffeted to and fro by the twists of the plot, constantly emotionally confused. Marsh’s smile of sardonic satisfaction as Hedy would have looked good in close up as she reveals the character’s evil gradually, then intensely as a troubling Allie look-alike.

Maybe it’s the medium, but Single White Female never really chills the blood as it intends. It does, however, hold the audience’s attention on the next twist in Hedy’s unhinged progress.

Runs until 28th February 2026, before continuing on tour