A right royal mystery, make no mistake

REVIEW: The Anastasia File – Malvern Theatres (Tuesday, October 13 to Saturday, October 17). Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm.

Showtime! stars rating: * * * * *

THE world loves a good conspiracy theory. They’re far better than your straight mystery tale, because even when there seems to be no juice left in the tank, the ‘yes, but maybe… ' notion somehow remains.

Buddy Holly didn’t die and lives in retirement somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Neither did Elvis. Maybe they’re neighbours, having the occasional jam session. The outrage of 9/11 was really the work of the American CIA. Brexit was all the fault of Putin. And so on.

Which takes us neatly - and geographically - to the case of Anastasia, supposedly murdered along with the rest of Russian royal family in 1918, yet two years later is seemingly fished out of a canal near Berlin following a failed suicide attempt.

We find her in a hospital where she is being assessed by medics. At first, her identity cannot be established. But slowly, the clues start to emerge, too.

The evidence seems to mount up. Could those marks be the scars of bayonet wounds inflicted by the Bolshevik execution squad which slaughtered her parents and siblings in that gruesome cellar in Yekaterinburg, east of the Urals?

She recalls how her family’s bodies are taken into the woods, dismembered and incinerated. Even though she has been bayoneted several times, by some miracle she survives…

Royce Ryton’s compelling script is brought to life by Jenny Seagrove, who almost - but perhaps not quite - convinces us that she is indeed the last of the Romanov dynasty.

She maintains a brilliantly authentic Russian accent as she is interrogated by the Inspector, played with an icy professionalism by Simon Shepherd, while medics Ashley D. Gayle and Rosie Thomson keep up the pressure with a more relaxed bedside manner.

‘Anastasia’ spent more than 30 years trying to obtain recognition as the last surviving Romanov. She was one of the most popular historical riddles of the last century, one that was kept alive in in the guise of a woman by the name of Anne Manahan, who never gave up staking her claim to having royal blood flowing in her veins.

Under the direction of Roy Marsden, this is a fast-paced yarn that will keep you in the edge of your seats right until the last moment. Hmmm, shall we talk about DNA? No, let’s not spoil it. Besides, haven’t we got enough present-day conspiracy theories to be going on with?