Finders' Fee

A too-brief, awkwardly staged opening scene lets down this otherwise gripping, noirish tale of greed, sex and betrayal in the cut-throat world of New York City real estate.

It's not common for a play to be marketed as an 'erotic thriller', a genre with worrying Channel 5 connotations, but Finder's Fee succeeds in its portayal of a charged, sexy affair between its central characters. It certainly doesn't harm this production's credibility that actors Mindy Crist and Adam Rothenberg are pretty damn good-looking.

Crist, in particular, gives a brilliantly nuanced performer as a banker drawn into a high-stakes deal that eventually becomes a matter of life and death. Josh Stamberg completes the cast as an investigator who finds the tables turned on him. At least, that's how it appears...

This play is crying out for the big screen treatment. Panoramic shots of the plot of land being fought over would help put the deal in context, and on the cinema screen there'd be no need to fade to black as soon as the characters lock lips.

At times, the real estate jargon is a little bamboozling, and the ending is also rather abrupt, but Finder's Fee scores full marks for style, acting and a cleverly satisfying plot.