I'd Like to Report a Murder

This was the premiere of Tom Casling’s play and I was delighted that the group allowed me to attend the dress rehearsal as I couldn’t attend the show run due to other commitments, thank you.

The story is centred on Miss Terry Planter, a fiction crime writer, who contacts the police to report a murder which she had witnessed, or had she? The tale has many aspects to the plot, fraud, clairvoyance, undercover work to name but a few and certainly kept the audience member on their toes working out who the perpetrator was through the story’s twists and turns.

In his directorial debut Lee Passmoor made the most of the performance area using the stage and floor areas to create the various scenes and light them as required. The lighting and sound effects were appropriate to the piece and the living room scene in particular was filled with an excellent array of furniture and props, costumes were also appropriate to the character portrayal.

In the pivotal role of Terry Planter Jean Ord gave a confident and plausible performance, she had a huge amount of script to learn and didn’t falter. The police double act of Bill Donaldson and Colin Crompton played by Clive Lancaster and Calum Cameron again gave good character portrayal and solid performances. Looking after Terry’s dementia suffering husband Eric, sensitively played by Alan Oliver, were Care Assistant Katharine Jones played by Rachel Miller and Manager Anne Littlefair played by Annette Morris. Rachel was believable as the put upon carer with a secret who is looking for a way to better herself and Annette as always gave a good assured performance. The character who was as colourful and interesting as her costumes was Shirley Wright, Terry’s very observant next door neighbour, played by Susan Haswell who clearly relished in the eccentricity of her character and delivered the humour well too.

This was a good evening’s entertainment and a great way for Matchbox Theatre to come back after their enforced break due to the pandemic. Congratulations to all involved and well done Lee!

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