Andrew Bovell’s Speaking In Tongues centres on brooding detective Leon Zat, who becomes embroiled in an intruiging and complex investigation.

Nine parallel lives, four infidelities, one missing person and a mysterious stiletto are interwoven through a fragmented series of confessionals, interrogations and split-screen scenes. As these strands are drawn together by Zat, the story goes beyond a whodunnit, examining the issues of betrayal, commitment, loss of trust and the ripple effect of actions on the remotest of strangers.

John Simm, who plays Zat in Speaking In Tongues, is a hugely popular, award-winning screen actor whose television work includes The Lakes, Clocking Off, Sex Traffic, State Of Play, Life On Mars and Dr Who, as well as the films Human Traffic and 24-Hour Party People. After a long absence from the stage, Simm returned in 2007 in Elling at Trafalgar Studios, for which he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award.

Simm is joined in Speaking In Tongues by Ian Hart (Backbeat, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone), Kerry Fox (Shallow Grave, Welcome To Sarajevo) and Lucy Cohu (The Queen’s Sister, Torchwood). They are directed by Toby Frow, who previously directed Bovell’s Ship Of Fools at Theatre503.

Playwright Bovell’s other work for the stage includes When The Rain Stops Falling, recently seen at the Almeida theatre, while his screen work includes the hit Australian film Strictly Ballroom, which he co-wrote with Baz Luhrmann, and Lantana, the screen adaptation of Speaking In Tongues, which starred Anthony LaPaglia, Barbara Hershey and Geoffrey Rush in 2001.

For more about Speaking In Tongues at the Duke of York’s theatre, read the First Night Feature or the Big Interview with Lucy Cohu.