They really don't make 'em like this anymore: Sutton Vane's 1923 hit 'Outward Bound' is a supernatural morality thriller with social comedy overtones that hasn't been staged in London for more than 50 years.
This isn't a surprise: the sci-fi genre went on to find a happier home on the big and small screens, while the stark Biblical morality that underpins the play isn't exactly PC. Still, it's entertaining: grippingly paced, economically written, with big characters. Director Louise Hill plays a straight bat to offer up a lively middlebrow revival, complete with lovely nautical set from Alex Marker.
The scenario is similar to your average Agatha Christie: seven strangers from various strata of British society board a passenger ferry, none of them quite sure why they're there. But it slowly dawns upon them that they are all dead, a fact confirmed by Scrubby, the sole member of crew (played with sinister understatement by David Brett).
Though it gets a little fire and brimstone at the end (albeit with a welcome tearjerker twist), 'Outward Bound' works because it never lets the scenario eclipse the sparky bickering. The play has had its day, but it's too interesting to deserve to be forgotten; it would be nice to think somebody else might dust it off in another 50 years.