Murder, Mystery & Mayhem

A visit to Gamlingay Players for, as the programme states, an evening of ‘Murder, Mystery and Mayhem,’ with the offering of two one act plays. Firstly, we had Tom Stoppard’s witty swipe at theatre critics themselves with The Real Inspector Hound, a somewhat confusing farce where the critics themselves become embroiled as characters in the murder mystery. Directed by Bryony Mountfort. And secondly, we had a shorter piece, by Robert Scott, Rambles on Radio, about a dramatist who puts on a radio play with his totally unsuitable, highly strung daughter in the title role. Directed by Fred Hammett.

The set, by Gill and John Spaull and in the hands of Stage Manager Clive Pattle was mainly to blacks with one set of French windows stage left, but furnished as if for an Agatha Christie who done it. In this case Muldoon Manor, with chaise long, table, armchair and a very fifties radio for The Real Inspector Hound, and stripped bare but for a table for various props, sound effects and various microphones dotted around for Rambles.  For Inspector Hound, we had a mirror image of the two theatre critics who were placed to the rear of the set but representing them as if in the audience. A neat and simple arrangement which allowed a quick change of sets, by the crew of John Spaull and Ava Ginnetta in the interval. Neat job.

With lights by Andrew Peters and sound by David Masterson all worked well on both fronts with cues perfectly delivered.  I never gave much thought to either sound or lights during the show, always a good sign that the techies are doing an excellent job.

Props were also by Gill and John Spaul, but a special mention of the ‘body,’ which lay on display throughout the entire play, was very comically done.  Gill Spaul also sourced all the costumes, whilst Hannah Ginnetta and Bryony Mountfortd were responsible for makeup.

In The Real Inspector Hound the story follows two theatre critics, Moon and Birdboot played by Craig Smoothy and Graham Virgo reviewing a play,  Murder at Muldoon Manor, but both are somewhat preoccupied by personal issues. Moon with his obsessive jealousy of his superior, Higgs whom he is standing in for and Birdboot, a philanderer who fervently protests to being a happily married man, with the actress playing Cynthia. Excellent banter between them, neither of them really interested in the play they are reviewing until the telephone goes off and with nobody answering Moon steps on to the stage to answer it, at which point it does become somewhat surreal as he finds Birdboot’s wife on the line. Birdboot takes the call and before he can leave he is embroiled into the action in the play itself.

The play, Murder at Muldoon Manor starts off with a superb entrance by Rebecca Keeves as a very hunched up Mrs Drudge the housekeeper , crossing the stage in a wonderfully laboured manner, ignoring the body already laid out on the floor to turn on the radio to the police announcement of a madman on the loose. Colin Carroll as mystery man Simon enters to declare his love for Cynthia, played by Amy Lovat, having dumped Felicity, played by Hannah Ginnetta.  Ian Parker was excellent as the pompous Major Magus, the rival to Simon for Cynthia’s affection. Enter Chris Martin as Inspector Hound who showed all his experience with a wonderfully comedic moment when he had to take a prompt and broke the fourth wall to give the audience a brilliant look. Fred Hammett was the very BBC radio announcer in a very well done fifties plummy accent.     

All the characters got into their parts with enthusiasm with some excellent period characterisations, but one too many prompts and the odd place where the script went missing did slow the pace at times, but all in all I thought this was a great deal of fun and certainly kept the audience amused throughout, even though Stoppard’s surreal script did take some working out and did leave me thinking, have I missed something as it blurred reality and fiction into mental mayhem. But that was what we were promised on the front of the programme.

Rambles on the radio on the other hand was a much shorter and more timeless piece. It could easily be played on either the stage as it was here, or as a radio play. Christopher, played by Jonathan Mountfortd,  a dramatist only rivalled by Ernie Wise, as it cleverly says in the programme, is a self-obsessed dramatist who is putting an atmospheric sinister melodrama on the radio, The Tale of  Wesley Hall, starring his very reluctant daughter, Georgina, played brilliantly by Beth Parker, who’s character has absolutely no acting skills whatsoever, a fact her father is completely oblivious to when she delivers her lines in the play in an absolutely deadpan, monotone, very nervous manner, eventually running off stage, leaving Harry, played by Craig Smoothy to simulate both her accent and the male character he is actually playing. Hilarious stuff.

Meanwhile Bryony Mountfort as Charlie on the sound desk, having put on the thickest pair of glasses/goggles at Christopher’s insistence is now struggling to read the script and all the sound cues are consequently and comically way out of time. Meanwhile all sorts of backstage shenanigans and infidelities are happening. Harry is having an affair with Louise, played by Hannah Ginnetta, who spends her time nit-picking Christopher’s script and Martin, played by Ian Parker, who is Louise’s present lover, tries to make sense of the script itself, without much success.

All in all, Murder, Mayhem and Mystery are probably fairly accurate descriptions of the night’s proceedings, and it certainly kept the audience entertained and somewhat confused with unfathomable plots, at least definitely in the first play. I did leave with a smile on my face, doubting my own sanity, but thinking what on earth was that all about? So, well done to Gamlingay Players and thanks for the entertainment. I’ll let you know when I fully understand Stoppard’s plot!

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