Agatha Crusty and the Village Hall Murders

Agatha Crusty is a crime novelist and when her sister in law invites her to spend a few days in the local village of Chortleby, it’s not long before she gets involved in a series of murders directed at members of the Village Hall committee!

This cleverly written play gives plenty of opportunity for the cast of 10 actors to provide suspense, comedy and a level of realistic belief in the plot! The scene opens with ‘Harry Knott’ the caretaker, whose cousin is the local bobby ‘PC Lockett’. Being related, the similarity in actors is no surprise given they are both played well by the same actor David Vas. There is another opportunity to ‘double up’ when Alex Fitzgerald plays ‘Olivia Truscott-Pratt’ and her brother ‘Oliver Truscott –Pratt’, both convincingly portrayed with humour involving some rather quick costume changes!

When suspicions are raised, the local Detective ‘Inspector Twigg’ is called and his muddled, comic and often incompetent character is well portrayed by Hugh Raymer.  Meanwhile Steve Willis, is everything you might expect as the local ‘Reverend Toby Bishop’ showing concern as one murder follows another, whilst ‘Eleanor Wagstaff’ well portrayed by Kate Joels obviously ‘holds a candle’ for him. As the plot thickens, good support is provided by Kerry Horne (‘Alice Fogg’), Sue Smith (‘Isabella Battersby’) and Holly Robbins (‘Mandy’).

As in all good murder mysteries, you’re never quite sure who the guilty party is and to this end Liz Whitehouse as the cleaner with a grudge ‘Maisie Grimm’, keeps us guessing very well.  As the title of the play suggests ‘Agatha Crusty’ comes to the rescue and solves the puzzle and Iris Checketts provided a sound and accomplished portrayal.

ODS’s venue of the Memorial Hall for many years, has recently undergone a major refurbishment although I have to say at the present time this no longer sympathetically accommodates stage productions. ‘Hats off’ to ODS and the director Tracy Venables, who under the circumstances are to be congratulated on coping with the unhelpful lighting and acoustics, remarkably well.

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