Agatha Crusty and the Village Hall Murders

This was billed in the programme as a comedy whodunit and the production certainly  lived up to this description! Audience members may have been forgiven an initial  feeling of apprehension in case the title suggested some audience participation but  happily in this case the action was confined to bodies on the stage! We were greeted to an open set typical of a village hall, with display boards  advertising the different clubs and activities, trestle tables and stacks of plastic  chairs. 

The large cast of village characters typical of those in “Agatha Christie” land, gave  opportunity for members of the group to take both leading and supporting roles, and gossip, village politics, misunderstandings, “double entendres” and red herrings  abounded!  

Everyone worked well together, and the various characters were clearly defined. Agatha Crusty (pronounced Croosty) was confidently played, and in this production  smartly dressed moving away from the expected stereotypical “Miss Marple” attire. She is a crime novelist who gets caught up in a series of murders seemingly aimed  at members of the Village Hall Committee, and her powers of deduction are certainly  put to the test!  

It all began when a shotgun belonging to the husband of Maisie the cleaner went off  causing his demise and a tragic chain of events ensued! Bendy Wendy the Pilates  expert tripped down the stairs and broke her neck and poor Barry was found  drowned upside down in the water butt.  

Were these all unfortunate accidents or was there something more sinister afoot?  Dun, dun, dun! 

The role of Detective Inspector Twigg, drafted in to solve the case was very well  played, reminiscent of Inspector Clouseau he tied himself up in knots at every turn.  Fussy Eleanor, a typical village “busybody” and Chair of the Committee was also well  performed. She showed more than a soft spot for the benevolently played Vicar,  who’s surname Bishop added to the confusion, and became quite territorial around  him.  

Harry the Caretaker, was very naturally portrayed as he wandered on, in his brown  coat and cap, nonchalantly cancelling the classes as the bodies began to pile up!  Sterling support came from the bumbling PC Lockett, and the two other ladies on the  Committee Alice and Isabella, both in fear and trepidation for their lives! The performer playing the two roles of siblings, Oliver, and Olivia the local gentry, was simply hilarious especially when she squared up bosom to bosom with Eleanor!  This was very cleverly done with just a change of wig, in the same shade but  different styles, with differing intonation, and made for great fun! 

Mandy was tantalising as the “life model” tempting attendance at the Art Class, even  the Vicar popped in with his brushes!

Scene changes were smoothly handled mostly on an open stage under blue light,  with some appropriate music to the theme, Miss Marple, the Pink Panther and even  a few bars of Z Cars at one point. 

Perhaps on occasion the closing lines to each scene could have been a tad more  upbeat and sharper, for example after Isabella had died on stage the closing word  “poisoned” was particularly well delivered. 

The “denouement” was tricky with everyone on stage in a relatively small space, and  when Maisie, a super understated performance always in the background, was  revealed as the perpetrator she needed to be brought further DSC – difficult. There was a lovely moment DSL in this scene when the Vicar and Harry re-enacted the drowning of Barry in the water butt with two dolls from the Jumble Sale table complete with yellow wellies! 

This was a very wordy piece full of puns and tongue twisting play on words and for  the most part everyone coped well with only the occasional loss of lines. There was one marvellous moment though which could easily have been part of the  action when the Inspector and Eleanor both froze DSR and made their way step by  step across the front to DSL in perfect unison and looked down at the prompt for help  - perfectly priceless! 

A very warmly received production, great fun and cleverly executed! 

The N.O.D.A. Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the  overall production and in particular the performance viewed. It should be  remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the  techniques used during the performance observed. Any criticisms expressed  may not have been valid at other performances and are only made to  encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre.

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