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Vault Festival review: Kompromat, a gripping, sexy, spy thriller

The performances ooze with sexual tension and sensuousness; the backdrop is an atmosphere of isolation and threat and it is this combination which elevates Kompromat above your average spy thriller.

Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo Mark Senior-3
Guy Warren-Thomas and Max Rinehart in Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo: Mark Senior

 

The 2010 'spy in the bag' murder is the inspiration behind Kompromat, a new play by David Thame which imagines the murderer using a honey trap to ensnare his victim.

A two-hander, the story is told through a series of monologues and flashbacks primarily through the eyes of Zac (Max Rinehart) who picks up Tom (Guy Warren-Thomas) at a club.

Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo Mark Senior-1
Max Rinehart in Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo: Mark Senior

When we first meet Zac, he is talking directly to the audience while conducting a clinical cleanup of Tom's flat.

There is a note of regret, tinged with frustration when he says 'You should have done what you do best'.

What Tom does best is work for MI6 but he's green, just arrived from GCHQ and dazzled by London's gay scene - or is he just feeling lonely and turning a blind eye to rookie hitman Zac's missteps?

Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo Mark Senior-12
Guy Warren-Thomas and Max Rinehart in Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo: Mark Senior

The performances ooze with sexual tension and sensuousness; the backdrop is an atmosphere of isolation and threat and it is this combination which elevates Kompromat above your average spy thriller.

There is a sadness and tragedy to both murderer and victim.

Threat and danger haunts them both, as does an ache of loneliness beyond the physical to the need for a meaningful connection.

Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo Mark Senior-17
Guy Warren-Thomas and Max Rinehart in Kompromat. VAULT Festival. Photo: Mark Senior

There are a smattering of witty lines which add brief moments of humour as the tension grows, making for a compelling and gripping drama. 

Kompromat packs a lot of punch in its 60 minutes and is at the Vault Festival, Leake Street until Feb 3. 

I'm giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Read more about Kompromat in this interview with director Peter Darney.

Kompromat was also one of my 9 hot theatre tips for 2019.

 

 

 

 

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