Murder at the Theatre Royale: The perfect murder mystery (A Christmas Mystery, 2)

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There will be three murders to solve in the 2022 Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. Crimes on Centre Court is a delight from start to finish! Fast and smart as a Cary Grant punchline, this talented team are genuinely funny. Filled with Old school pleasures and fresh foolishness, this is the perfect mix of silly and skilled. It is simply, and impressively, a great night out!” – Emma Rice regrettably for its participants, the discussion was bereft of trifles and laden with labour. The combatants sat – one slouching in a posture which conveyed the inconvenience of the protracted dialogue, the other perched uncomfortably in a stance designed to project professionalism and composure – on opposing sides of a great mahogany desk.’ Playwright (and pantomime dame to boot) Philip Meeks has history at York Theatre Royal in the form of Twinkle, Little Star, starring Nottingham Playhouse panto legend Kenneth Alan Taylor in the Studio in 2008 and the 2017 world premiere of Murder, Margaret and Me, his comedy-thriller of imagined meetings between crime novelist and playwright Agatha Christie and actress Margaret Rutherford.

Theatre Royal, Portsmouth Crimes on Centre Court at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth

After crashing his car in a lonely country lane, former pop star Danny (Tom Chambers) finds himself—and his extended family—spending New Year’s Eve in an isolated holiday cottage deep in the English countryside. Also in attendance are the wife and son he abandoned to pursue his musical career, Rebecca (Rebecca Charles) and Jake (Jonny Green), his resentful older brother, William (Owen Oakeshott), and his age-inappropriate girlfriend, Sarah (Laura White). In some ways, All About Murder is similar to another of their works, Anybody for Murder , which Tabs and Rumpus Theatre Company produced in Chesterfield in 2019 as part of a seven-play rep season celebrating 70 years of the Pomegranate Theatre. From October 19 to 23, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective story The Hound Of The Baskervilles will be given a humorous overhaul in a Lotte Wakeham production where farce collides with theatrical invention and comic performances.but since almost every character is described in this way : age, height, hair etc it becomes tedious. Laura White until recently played the regular role of Dr Princess Buchanan on BBC 1’s Doctors . Other TV credits include Aysha in Silent Witness . Film credits include Gladys in The Colour Room about the famous potter Clarice Cliff. Her theatre credits include Nats/Ms Almi in Home Girl (Derby Theatre), Sandra in The Play That Goes Wrong (UK Tour), Sarah in the immersive promenade show C-O-N-T-A-C-T (London) and The Play That Goes Wrong (West End). I was excited to read this book - I enjoy a good cosy crime and love 'period' stories. The cover is also very good and the title straight forward and telling it as it is. And I was not disappointed with the plot. There were several red herrings and plot twists and the story has a feisty female lead who has something to prove and her work cut out to get things right. I can’t write in any more detail about the plot but my advice is for the audience to forget all preconceptions. One is led into what can only be described as an existential nightmare with non-sequential frighteners and haunting appearances aplenty. Watch out for the ghostly ballerina! On a less positive note, I found myself repelled at times by the sheer unpleasantness of the characters. Jake, for example—who I concede has legitimate reasons for disliking his absent father—doesn’t reveal any tenderness or vulnerability to temper his youthful angst. Similarly, twentysomething Anna is mostly defined by her obsession with mobile phone reception.

Perfect Murder at the Theatre Royal is watched by crime The Perfect Murder at the Theatre Royal is watched by crime

Murder at the Theatre Royale by Ada Moncrieff belongs to a genre I have only recently become aware of – variously described as cosy crime, cosy mysteries and in this case cosy Christmas crime! Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre will be celebrating 40 Years Of Phoenix with a birthday programmeof work by international and award-winning choreographers, including former artistic directors and collaborators. The acting is tight and effective, although I feel that we deserved a little less stereotyping. The set is brilliantly envisaged by Simon Kenny; my only reservation here being the realisation of the last scene. However, lighting by Paul Pyant, cleverdesign by Simon Kenny, and atmospheric sound devised by Max Pappenheim worked in unison to create unsettling and at times terrifying effects.

Diaries & Calendars

As well as three plays by recognised thriller writers, the 2021 collection includes one play by Classic Thriller Season regular John Goodrum who has adapted the mysteries of G K Chesterton into Father Brown—the Murderer in the Mirror. Henry Goodman stars as Hercule Poirot in a brand-new stage production of Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express which visits Bath exclusively, direct from its opening at Chichester Festival Theatre. Appearing at the Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 9 th to Saturday 25 th June, Christie’s thrilling murder mystery is directed by Jonathan Church, Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal’s Summer Season ( Betrayal, An Ideal Husband, The Price). A summer staple at the city centre venue since 1988, the season includes a comedy thriller, a classic Agatha Christie and a suspenseful murder mystery.

Murder at the Theatre Royale Review Murder at the Theatre Royale Review

Midsomer Murders came to mind as I finished this book. Everything is well explained to the assembled cast at the denouement but really, anyone could have dunit and the revelations are all somewhat far-fetched. But none of that seems to matter. It's Christmas and entertainment needs to be jolly and undemanding, especially if it can be a little bit bloodthirsty too!

Review

ONCE nights start to draw in, York Theatre Royal will fill its stage with spirits and shadows in The Haunted Season from September 9. There were times during the performance when couples in the audience turned their heads from the stage to grin at each other as they identified with quarrels taking place on stage. When Nigel receives a poison pen letter in the post, Detective Inspector Berry arrives to investigate. Jeremy Lloyd Thomas portrays him almost—but not quite—as a pantomime character. He is an amateur dramatics fan who is influenced by Agatha Christie and Francis Durbridge as well as Forbes and Goodman whose plays he knows inside out. Now Meeks will return with his stage adaptation of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving’s 1820 tale of the Headless Horseman, from October 5 to 9, when Wendi Peters, from Coronation Street, and Bill Ward, from Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Before We Die, will lead the cast and Filipe J Carvalho will provide the stage illusions.