Sleuth

Blurb

Sleuth is a 1970 play written by Anthony Shaffer. The play is set in the Wiltshire manor house of Andrew Wyke, an immensely successful mystery writer. Wyke's home reflects his obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures his wife's lover, Milo Tindle, to the house and convinces him to stage a robbery of her jewellery, a proposal that sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher where Wyke's imagination ends and reality begins.
Shaffer said the play was partially inspired by one of his friends, composer Stephen Sondheim, whose intense interest in game-playing is mirrored by the character of Wyke.
The play's first production, starring Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter, was at London's St Martin's Theatre.
After four previews, the Broadway production, with Quayle and Baxter directed by Clifford Williams, opened on 9 November 1970 at the Music Box Theatre, where it ran for 1,222 performances. When Anthony Quayle left the production in 1972, Patrick Macnee replaced him in the role of Wyke.