CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Hen and Chickens Theatre
★★★★
“an old school treat that revels in its mash-up origins”
If you knew nothing more, you might think this head-turning noir thriller was a revival, a dusted-down classic from the golden age of Hollywood.
You might squint your eyes and rack your brain. Was Fred MacMurray in the original, and Barbara Stanwyck? You might drool over the sumptuous costumes – slim silk dresses and tuxedos – and think, yes, I watched this in my Slanket, scoffing a packet of Revels on that snowy day when the Tube was closed.
The quick-witted broads and destructive men, the twisty plot and quickfire dialogue, they are all familiar.
Men say things like, ‘I have half a mind to put you through that wall’ while the waspish women tease with hints of wanton pleasure. A bit of screwball banter here, a bit of corny dialogue there. References to Gardner, Bogie and Bacall. Would it help if it were in black and white…
But no. Snap out of it. Conflict of Interest is a modern original, albeit drenched in homage.
Despite the quipping and the bow ties and the whisky shots, this is 1980s Philadelphia although its themes and sensibilities – around misogyny and victimhood – are pure 2010s. Think Double Indemnity as viewed by Rian Johnson.
Once you’ve orientated yourself in a fluctuating pick-n’mix timescape, matters settle –although never entirely.
This melange is thanks to young writer and star Thomas Carruthers who sets the pace in this bristling law office drama where femmes fatale are prone to turn up, set hearts aflame, slug a gin and slink away.
The first of these is southern belle Rita Lempkin (Rhian Holmes) who wants Art (Carruthers) to clear her of killing her rich husband. Wily Rita has selected Art because he’s worked a similar miracle before. In that case, he went on to marry the accused, Lucy (a brilliant Maeve-Anne Allen), although Art has never figured out Lucy’s true guilt or innocence.
This is something that bothers him and Rita exploits the fact. She recognises a fellow player, because Art isn’t as white as he would wish. The conflict of interest refers to a lot more than just legal compromise.
Meanwhile, embittered law partner Mitch (William Leggetter) hates Art, his father, most women and the world – in that order – and pretty ingenue Talia (Amy Cash) simply wants to get on with her legal career without being badgered by an assortment of Mad Men looking to bag the filly.
So there’s plenty to enjoy in this play which aspires to live on a bigger stage. The five British actors are glittering and accomplished, and director Jazz Sewsanker ensures that impeccably clipped American accents fly across the set at 90mph.
Each character has a quest for truth, not necessarily the actual truth, which might be inconvenient, but a version of the truth they can accommodate. As there are four of them (plus Rita), there’s much to get through in two hours.
That may account for the excess of everything, which can be dizzying. For example, the courtroom drama tropes can’t keep pace and quickly fall away.
The biggest crime – misdemeanour not felony – is the sheer silky smoothness of the production, its remorseless rat-a-tat-tat, with everyone having answers for everything and those answers being long, practised and handily Freudian.
No-one is ever stuck for words. Or favours short ones.
Characters and story are sometimes crowded out by this onslaught so there is little room for people to take a moment to be rocked by revelation. Must get on. Must get on.
However, the case for the prosecution is weak on these grounds alone. The verdict stands: this is an old school treat that revels in its mash-up origins.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Hen and Chickens Theatre
Reviewed on 1st October 2026
by Giles Broadbent
Photography by Alfie Cowgill, Rhian Holmes – Lantern Theatre, Sheffield
