Death By Design

Death By Design has a mixture of Agatha Christie’s style of intricate murder plots with witticisms by Noel Coward. Set in the early 1930’s, the plot revolves around the lives of playwright Edward Bennett and his wife, Sorel, a self-confident actress. They have a disastrous opening night of their latest play and escape and take refuge in their country house.  Various self-opinionated guests arrive and get on each other’s nerves each and every one has as hidden secret, which is revealed, one by one.  This, of course, leads to one of the guests being murdered and it is left to the feisty, bossy maid to sort everything out and find the culprit.

All the actors gave very confident performances with copious amounts of very complicated and tongue-twisting dialogue which was delivered with pace and clarity. The puns on the words were all perfect. We knew this was going to be funny and it did not disappoint.

John Varlow played the arrogant playwright Edward Bennett was excellent in this role. Likewise, Rachael Lilley ticked all the boxes as Sorel the actress who thought she was better that anyone else. Rachael’s body language and facial expressions to match her emotional moods were perfect all the way through the production. Great scenes between them, ranging from being lovey-dovey then to screaming their heads off at each other.

Sue Brewer was cast as Bridgit the maid. However, Sue was unable to carry on with this role due to an injury sustained three weeks before opening night. Julie Kaye stepped into the breach and played Bridgit – along with her director’s job. The script was in her hand while on stage but she didn’t need it and was amazing.

Martin Smith played Walter Pearce, a conservative politician with his eyes set on seducing Sorel who, of course, leads him on. His politics and attitude towards the other guests causes friction and this leads him to get murdered (or does it). Another great performance.

Great performances also from Amanda Jackson as the Bohemian artistic dancer Victoria Van Roth. Amanda floated around the stage and was very artistic in every way. David Colston as the likeable and loveable chauffer, Jack, with his many girlfriends. Anthony Clifton as the radical, Eric, with set ideas of right and wrong, and Alice Shepherd as Alice (who else) who’s appearance complicated the plot even more. Each of these characters held secrets and had good reasons to kill Walter Pearce. All these actors were perfect in their roles.

What a surprise at the end of the play – even Agatha Christie couldn’t think up an ending like that. This was a well thought-out production and as always the cast, set, lighting and sound were excellent.

Congratulations to Julie Kaye and everyone involved in making this a first-class performance of Murder by Design. 

Thank you for the invite, your hospitality and a most enjoyable evening. 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.