The British thriller, Dangerous Obsession, first staged in Brombley, England, will have a Motor City setting when it makes its Michigan debut at metro Detroit's Meadow Brook Theatre Jan. 5. Director Debra L. Wicks has set the play by mystery novelist N.J. Crisp in one of Detroit's poshest suburbs, Grosse Pointe Park. The play involves a surprise visit from a distant acquaintance of Mark and Sally Driscoll, a wealthy couple who treasure their lives in their Tudor home. Visitor John Barrett (played by Robert Morgan) and his wife met Sally (Tracey Copeland) and Mark (John Biedenbach) at a dinner months before. John's wife later died in a car wreck.

Meadow Brook promises "terror," "twin obsessions" and "disquieting assertions" from the 1987 play. Crisp penned the play, Fighting Chance, the novels "The Brink," "In the Long Run" and "The Ninth Circle," as well as screenplays and the teleplay for "The Man Who Was Hunting Himself," seen on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre."

Wicks is interim artistic director of Meadow Brook Theatre, Michigan's only LORT Equity theatre, located in Rochester, MI, on the campus of Oakland University.

Official opening is Jan. 8, after previews. Performances continue to Jan. 30.

Designers are Peter W. Hicks (sets), Reid G. Johnson (lighting), Barbara Jenks (costumes) and Brett Rominger (sound).

Tickets are $19.50-$35. Call (248) 377-3300 for information.

-- By Kenneth Jones