Harvey's Wallbanger

With the permission of author Lesley Gunn, CATS turned her intriguing murder mystery into a musical murder mystery with the inclusion of a few choice songs.  These, on the whole, fitted in well with maybe the exception of a Gentleman’s Guide.  

The settings, a village hall, a bus stop and Harvey’s house worked well in the main. However perhaps re-siting or angling the bar in Harvey’s house would, when all ten cast were on stage, have helped to avoid the occasional masking. The stage was well lit and sound was fine with only the odd body mic blip.  Costumes were well chosen and depicted each character’s personality.  Musical Adviser Will Cahill had advised and rehearsed the cast well and they handled the sequenced music satisfactorily.

At a meeting of the Prickwillow Cocktail Club in the village hall, a potential change in leadership is causing tensions to run high, but things reach a peak when a body is found before the start of the group’s next meeting at Harvey’s home. It's up to Detective Inspector Abbott - and the audience — to uncover a murderer. The play’s solution has 2 different endings to allow multiple performances without spoilers.   

There was good characterisation and some fine acting from the members of the Prickwillow Cocktail Club whose patrons (and potential murderers) include Hilda Makepeace who runs the local Post Office, Construction worker William Tilder, accountant Sophie Mayer, Jonathon Mudsey a hen-pecked husband, Freya Mudsey the aforementioned hen and Chair of the Club, pub landlady Annie McDonald, Harvey Fawley-Jones the captain of the local golf club and the cocktail club founder's sister, Bonnie Rathbone.  

It was very easy to work out very early on who would end up dead as Freya Mudsey, well-played by Amy Cahill, even whilst singing, managed to put her downtrodden husband Jonathon down further with every breath. Although she has a great voice she certainly was Simply the Best at being obnoxious.  Angie Sharpe as everybody’s friend Hilda Makepeace was absolutely splendid. She seemed sweet and friendly but was she capable of murder?  A nice performance from Natalie Hudson as Bonnie Rathbone and though no stranger to the stage in dramas Natalie made her debut in a musical. Enjoyable performances too from Mary Wade as pub landlord Annie McDonald and Alice Bubb as Sophie Mayer.  Not to be outdone by the ladies of the Cocktail Club Julian Hammond as Harvey Fawley-Jones, Daryl Edwards as Jonathon Mudsey and Joe Hammond at William Tilder more than matched them in expertise.  Annabel Spicer and Jodi Knighton completed the cast as DI Abbott and DS Pocock respectively coming in to question our suspects and reveal the murderer.

Lots of clues are dotted about, a good many of them during a very amusing bus stop scene when Hilda unwittingly responded to other’s conversations whilst they were on their mobile phones, which was cleverly done by all concerned.  The audience had the opportunity to question the cast before making their own choice of perpetrator.  Needless to say neither of my choices were correct!

Much effort had gone into making this an enjoyable evening, not only by Directors Gemma Crossland and David Blaikie, their cast and production team but also the front of house team who were kept busy supplying the delicious cocktails. A nice touch was added by BSL Interpreter Rachel Dance who very skilfully signed this performance for the large number of those present who were hearing impaired.  Well done Campaign Amateur Theatre and thank you.

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