Death by Design

‘Death By Design’ is a murder mystery play by American playwright Rob Urbinati. His vision was to combine the works of two of the 1930s’ best writers: Noel Coward and Agatha Christie. The story follows a married playwright and actress who have fled the West End after yet another disastrous review. As the play continues, we are introduced to the other characters, each with their own story to tell. I was pleased to accept the invitation of RATS to my first play as District 4 rep.

The curtains opened to reveal a simple, yet effective, and well-built set, transporting us into the country retreat of bickering couple: Edward and Sorel Bennett. The set allowed ample space for the performers and provided several entrances and exits that were well used throughout the performance.

First onto the stage was the house maid, Brigid, played by Alison Hawkesworth. Alison gave a strong performance, full of character as the maid who had always wanted to investigate a crime! Alison was joined early in the piece by Tom Pile who played the role of ladies’ man, Jack. Tom performed with good energy and the pair worked well together.

Mike Gelder and Catrin McCarthy played the aforementioned Mr and Mrs Bennett and the audience were treated to plenty of sarcasm and barbed comments from them both in their roles as the married couple who were clearly fed up of each other. An excellent comedy duo.

We were greeted by more guests when Eamonn Corbett entered as the slimy politician, Walter Pearce. Eamonn had a good character and his lines about the recent general election were met with laughter from the almost sell-out audience. I was impressed with how still he remained once he was killed off (or was he?). I wouldn’t have minded that role myself; certainly fewer lines to learn!

Patrick Baker provided a lively and colourful performance as the fiery socialist, Eric. I’ve never met Patrick but if I later found out he was from Yorkshire I wouldn’t be surprised as his accent was excellent and didn’t drop once.

Lynda George gave us a great portrayal of the bohemian painter, dancer and sculptress, Victoria Van Roth. The dance solo, I thought, was particularly amusing.

The final character in the play entered with a bang at the end of Act One. Alice, played by Amy Perry, whom the audience later find out is Jack’s girlfriend from Kent, sparks off the ‘who done it?’ portion of the play by firing a gunshot to end the act. Amy delivered a likeable and confident performance as the short-sighted Alice and whilst I don’t want to give the ending away as per the director’s instructions in the programme, let’s just say it’s a good thing she’s almost blind!

Thank you, RATS, for the invite and I look forward to seeing you all again.

The comments in the report are solely those of the author.

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