Agatha Crusty and the Health Spa Murders

My first introduction to “Agatha Crusty and……..” was earlier this year and I have to say I was really impressed with the clever writing of Derek Webb and how he was able to combine the murder/mystery element with much humour and produce an extremely entertaining play. I was therefore delighted to be invited to a second helping of this author’s writing performed by Durrington Theatrical Society.

The five fashion house girls who opened the story were Jocelyn Powers (Aimee Bullimore), Geri Myers (Bethany Paternoster), Lydia Stokes-Ramsbottom (Laura Brighty), Christina Taylor (Lia Roper) and Julia Whitehead (Maggie Newman). Being part of a murder plot inevitably means that their numbers would dwindle as the action progresses. During their time on stage as five became three, they all portrayed their individual characters well as we got to know them and their day-to-day lives. The complicated dialogue and fast pace was well managed.

Andy Eden (John Stovold) was the well cast and very casual Health Spa owner and we soon realised that all was not right about his and his deceased wife’s relationship. He had  two work assistants, the first of whom was Pavel Polovsky (Dominic Webster), the therapist, whose English was good enough, but also bad enough to mix up his idioms and give us plenty of laughs. The other was the frightfully modern Abigail Giggleswick (Grace Brandon), receptionist and therapist, whose adaptation of the English language was beautifully spoken but included a lot of text-speak - again very clever and funny.

Agatha Crusty (Pam Stringer) was a wonderfully played part. Just a lady with a very enquiring mind, lots of dialogue required in order to solve the mystery of who, why, when and how everything happened. The aptly named bumbling detective was D.I. Simon Aster [D.I. S. Aster] played by Robin Ferguson. This was a lovely part for a comedy character and was acted out with conviction and much needed stupidity, again giving us plenty of comedy.

The only scenery was the Health Spa reception. This was bright and cheerful. Lighting and particularly sound were expedited efficiently. The radio, CD player changes were well managed. The wardrobe department matched the costumes with the characters efficiently.

Congratulations to the production team, actors and back-stage crew for a comedic and entertaining evening. I understand that there are five “Agatha Crusty and…..” in the series. I look forward to the next three.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.