Edge of the aisle seat: the case of the theatre critic who becomes a sleuth

Here in the Dark follows a young theatre critic searching for a missing acquaintance. Photograph: moodboard/Alamy

My first professional theatre review appeared in print in the spring of 1998. An editor at the Village Voice had assigned me a play called Nog, an unseasonal comedy about a young man coming out to his family. I don’t remember much about it, except that I spent roughly 20 of my 200 allotted words writing that the lead actor was so wooden, he could have been a body-double for the Christmas tree. I also remember that the byline misspelled my name three different ways.

‘The boundary dissolves’ … Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski. Photograph: Bloomsbury