AGATHA CRUSTY & the Village Hall Murders

A very entertaining evening, with each character making the most of their respective parts.  This particular play gave everyone the chance to create their own persona, all of which contrasted well with each other.

The set was good, typical of a Church Hall, with the placement of the doors giving the cast plenty of room to manoeuvre.  The set was nicely lit, and the few sound effects needed were good.  I liked the way the cast managed the moving of props, chairs etc, it meant the action was not delayed for any longer than necessary.

I liked the play, it was very amusing with some nicely contrived action.  The shock ending of Act 1, with the body falling out of the cupboard, made us anxious to get back to Act 2 to see what had happened!

Stephen Parry created a good character as Harry, very laid back amidst all the action, and the business with the chair and his expression was really telling.

Agatha Crusty gave Tammy Calvert the chance to give us another spot on portrayal, a very perspicacious woman, and Tammy played her to the full, a stand out performance.

Lynne Morris as Alice got a nice range of expression, which I enjoyed, but I wanted her to show a bit more shock over Barry’s demise.

D.I. Twigg was very nicely played by Malcolm Calvert, a typical country DI who thought he was astute, but lacked a little awareness!!  I loved the ‘pattern emerging’ reference!

Bridget Calvert played Eleanor the stalwart of the Village Hall committee with a certain straightforwardness, but also a background feeling of her regard for the vicar.  A good characterisation.

Jean Smy was a delightfully grumpy Maisie, village hall cleaner and much else besides.  A little more angst when she was found out would have been good.

Toby the vicar was played by Rob Jones with archetypal vagueness associated with a man of the cloth.  However I felt this vagueness was a little too pronounced in that at times the words were a bit waffly.

I liked Donna Fletcher’s dual portrayals of Olivia and Oliver, both delivered with confidence, but strangely I liked Oliver better!

Chris Fletcher in a small but essential part as the village PC, gave us a good portrayal.

I liked Victoria Goode as the slightly ditzy Mandy, a believable but nicely dense character!

Leo Morawski had a momentary role as Mortimer, but was very essential to the plot.

Overall a nice production, rather too many prompts on the night I was there, which slowed the action slightly, but the audience enjoyed it as did I.

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