There is honour among thieves. Richard Foreman’s reinvention of A.J. Raffles is underscored by morality of sorts. The exploitative rich are robbed, habitual criminals are caught, and men of true nobility triumph — or at least do not suffer the indignity of having their baubles snaffled by our silver-tongued felons. At the centre of Richard Foreman’s three-storied omnibus is the close and criminal relationship between Raffles and Harry ‘Bunny’ Manders.
Raffles, for those of who do not know him, is a debonair rogue — a sparkling bon vivant with penchants for cricket and larceny. He is known as ‘the amateur cracksman’, which is misleading because he is an astonishingly expert thief. Foreman has him locking horns with Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes over an intemperate cabinet minister, plundering a shady American nouveau riche, and planning to lighten the former Prime Minister, Lord Roseberry, of some priceless and sentimental heirlooms. All the while, he is embarrassing the insufferable WG Grace on the cricket pitch, boozing with C.B.
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