Murder in Play

The play centres around an inept repertory company putting on a production of "Murder at Priorswell Manor" in which the director's wife, Renee, is murdered on stage in real life. It has plenty of comedy moments and lots of red herrings to keep you guessing who the murderer is until the final moments of the play. This was a good choice of play for this group, who always handle comedy very well.

As always there was a well-constructed set comprising of a fireplace, French doors, a chaise longue and other appropriate furniture and props.  The set worked well for the various entrances and exits required to make the play work.  There was also some nice lighting and good sound.

The play provides the opportunity for the actors to play their real characters and their play characters and the cast achieved this transition very well. Renee Savage had a slightly shaky start but soon got into the flow and gave a sterling performance up until her untimely death.

Tim Fermour was a confident performance. One of the highlights in play is the scene following the Directors notes where the cast are instructed to play things differently, which was very well done by the three actors involved, including Tim.

Ginette Vincent was especially good at these comedy moments.  I really enjoyed it when she followed the Directors notes and accentuated certain words in her dialogue, to great comedy effect.

Likewise, Christa D Amato gave a strong performance and obviously enjoyed doing the over the top acting required in the ‘play within a play’.

Sophie Lawton and Harrison Bracewell both gave convincing portrayals and the Director, Boris Smolensky, kept everything moving along nicely.  I think I may have enjoyed a slightly more ’theatrical’ portrayal of this character to really bring out the comedy, but it was an entertaining performance nonetheless.

Lastly the put upon stage manager, Pat Smith, was very entertaining in Act 1 and really captured life as a Stage Manager; continually expected to be in two places at once and never valued or thanked.  However, I wasn’t quite so convinced in Act 2 when she took her place in the cast.

Director Sylvia Seaman made a good job of bringing this very entertaining production to the stage.  A play within a play can often be confusing for the audience, even without a whodunit entwined in the plot, but Sylvia managed to show a clear boundary between the actors and the characters on the stage they were playing, enabling the audience to make sense of the play.  This was a very enjoyable production.  

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