“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold
Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Susie Salmon is just like any other young girl. She wants to be beautiful, adores her charm bracelet and has a crush on Ray, a boy from school. There's one big difference though – Susie is dead.

She can only observe while her family manage their grief in their different ways. Her father Jack is obsessed with identifying the killer. Her mother Abigail is desperate to create a different life for herself. And her sister Lindsey is discovering the opposite sex with experiences that Susie will never know. Susie is desperate to help them, and try to bring her murderer to justice, and there might be a way of reaching them…

This play is one of the best plays that I have seen in a long time. I had not seen the film or read the book, and not having that insight to either, made this piece of theatre electrifying and exciting, as well as quite unnerving.

The technical side of this play is amazing and it took me ages to work out how they created the effects that they did. Effects that made this play the exciting and nerve tingling play it is.I'm not going to say anything more about this side of the play because it has to be experienced to get the maximum effect.

This play has so many things that when put together, create an unforgettable evening. The puppets, although not meant to be scary, create that eerie effect, and Mike Ashcroft, who is the Movement Director brings an almost balletic feel to the piece.

Melly Still, the Director, has managed to create an uneasy air in parts of the play, and I felt myself going cold at several stages of the story.

Charlotte Beaumont (Susie Salmon) gives everything in her performance. She makes you feel anger, unease, frustration and at the end a feeling of relief. I can't remember the last actor to make me feel so many emotions in the space of just a few hours.

Catrin Aaron (Abigail Salmon) plays the mother, and you can understand her frustration with husband, Jack, when he does not want to let go of his search for his daughter's killer.

Jack Sandle (Jack Salmon) really makes you feel for his character, and you want him to get revenge for Susie, as well as the family.

Fanta Barrie (Lindsey Salmon), plays Susie's sister, and I loved how her personality and feelings were slowly revealed throughout the play as a slow burner.

Susie's first love, Ray is played by local boy made good, Samuel Gosrani, and boy has he matured in every way from the last time that I saw him at Bilborough College in their production of "We Will Rock You". Sam also played the part of the family dog Holiday. The section where he is "reunited" with Susie is just magical to watch, which is where part of the movement Director really excelled for me with some beautiful choreography.It was romantic as well as quite sad. It reminded me of a scene from "Ghost" where Sam "reunited" with Molly.

Leigh Lothian (Ruth) was one of those strange characters in stories like this, and a very interesting character she is as well. Dark and quite scary but as we go through the play, we discover so much more about her, including a softer side.

Nicholas Khan (Harvey) is another actor that you may recognise from local productions; I've seen him in "The Kite Runner" and "Wonderland", both at the Nottingham Playhouse. He plays a completely different character here with his calm unease oozing from the stage, which makes Harvey a classic evil serial killer. As we go through the play, we discover just what a sickening character he is, expertly revealed by Khan.

The rest of the cast, Lynda Rooke, Huw Parmenter, Andrew Joshi (who was last seen in Nottingham in "The Madness Of King George), Avita Jay, Leah Haile and Radhika Aggarwal complete this excellent cast.

A few others who need to be mentioned are Helen Skiera (Sound Design), Matt Haskins (Lighting Design) - both creating several jump scare moments throughout the play, and Ana Ines Jabares-Pita (Designer) for creating this work of theatrical art.

The play also has a wonderful soundtrack with songs from Bowie, Talking Heads, The Carpenters and The Stylistics among some of music featured, plus a lovely rendition of "Both Sides Now" by Leigh Lothian as Ruth.

As I said, I'd not read the book or seen the film, but now I want to do both and that is all thanks to this unmissable production.

“The Lovely Bones” is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 28 September 2019.