★★

On a post-Brexit summer’s eve, a whodunit beckons like a safe haven. We love our crime dramas and a classic thriller à la Agatha Christie is reliable: a murder to solve and a finite cast of protagonists to find out.

Regrettably this show does not measure up to expectation. Far from a haven, one feels trapped in the stifling heat of the theatre, and safe gives way to tedious.

Even half way through the short first half one doesn’t care whether Monica’s fateful fall was murder over suicide, let alone which of the bland crew assembled is culpable.

While The Agatha Christie Theatre Company celebrates 10 successful years putting on 12 of the most-famous killer sleuth’s productions, this newer version, The Classic Thriller Theatre Company, has not got off to a good start.

Award-winning writers Richard Levinson and William Link have enviable credentials which earned them their nickname as the Rolls and Royce of television series – their repertoire includes classics such as Columbo and Ellery Queen. Rehearsal For Murder features no such charismatic lead.

Alex Ferns portrays aggrieved fiancé Alex Dennison, a playwright with a new play to rehearse - and the reason for assembling his actor suspects.

Ferns has a string of credits which include Taggart, The Bill, Wallander and Eastenders, but he doesn’t get behind his character here in any meaningful way, and his cast are no less ordinary.

New assistant Sally Bean is meant to provide a humorous diversion but her faux-Welsh accent and repeated claims to hail from Abergavenny are tired and no substitute for character.

There are no spoilers here but to say that it is a genuine surprise when the murderer is revealed. No sharp intake of breath however, simply a silent roll of the eyes and a dash for the cool air of the streets.