Ronald Harwood is a notable — if these days somewhat lonely — contributor to the tradition of ‘the well-made play’ and The Handyman, which dates from 1996, a typically polished example of his work in this neglected genre. The well-managed production from Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre allies him once more with director Joe Harmston and star Timothy West who last year combined on the comedy Quartet. It is entertainment in a very different vein.

A far cry from the goatish opera singer he presented in Quartet, West this time gives us an elderly Ukrainian — guttural accent in perfect place — allegedly involved in crimes during the Second World War.

Roman Kozachenko was brought home by an English major at the end of the conflict. Fifty years on, the officer now deceased, ‘Romka’ still works as oddjob man for his daughter Cressida Field (Caroline Langrishe) and her financier husband Julian (Adrian Lukis). The trio are first seen in the leafy garden of the Fields’ Sussex home. As Julian tipples steadily — one senses this may be a problem in the marriage — Romka is preparing to bury a dead cat. Soon we are invited — with discomforting tactlessless, I felt — to measure this trivial sadness against the far greater grief arising from another burial allegedly carried out by the Ukranian.

Officers in Scotland Yard’s war crimes squad (James Simmons and Anthony Houghton) arrive to accuse him of being involved in the woodland shooting (and subsequent disposal beneath lime) of 817 Jews.

The play develops into a “did he or didn’t he?” drama, with the audience kept in the dark to the end.

Carolynd Backhouse shines as an Oxford-educated defence lawyer. There are valuable contributions on film from Steven Berkoff, as a grimly unrepentant member of a Ukranian execution squad, and Vanessa Redgrave as a long-serving nun deeply affected by a childhood glimpse into the depths of human depravity. A major theme of the play concerns the advisability of prosecuting old men for crimes committed years before. This, of course, has strong resonances at the present time and lends unexpected topicality to an already compelling drama.

FOUR STARS