Murder on the Overnight Express

MURDER ON THE OVERNIGHT EXPRESS by Patricia Gay is a classic murder mystery whodunnnit, full of suspects, red herrings and tension.  It's set in a railway station waiting room.   The murder – which we don’t see – happened on the train and it seems from the assembled cast, everyone has a motive.  This was an interactive evening where the audience are invited to guess who it was.  Supper was served in the interval where the suspects moved among us for questioning, while we ate supper.

The action took place in one place and the set was good and a realistic reproduction of a old, rather forlorn, shabby waiting room painted beige and green. The props were relevant – a pipe, papers and so on and were well used by the cast.

The costumes were in keeping with the characters and good attention to detail. There were great uniforms for Williams (the train guard) and Wee Jeanie the stewardess who looked extremely smart in her well fitted uniform. Chef Alphonso was suitably garbed as were the Brigadier and Lady Brig in their country tweeds. The actress Dolores looked every inch the starlet in her Hollywood style gold and black figure hugging dress.  

The lighting was effective throughout and well controlled.

The cast all portrayed their characters with great enthusiasm. Amy Spiller Davey as Delores Delgado gave us a strong southern belle complete with eyelash batting and over the top actress drama at every opportunity.  Luci Bland as the prim, straight-laced secretary Brenda Grubbley had us all fooled with her evident appreciation for gruesome deaths and her passion for murder mystery books. She had a lot of information to impart to the audience.  Bill Hansell was in fine form as the Brigadier, slightly downtrodden by Lady Brig his fearsome, take no prisoners, wife. Emma Walker gave a commanding performance in this role. 

The chemistry between Inspector Pluckett (Giles Webb) and the clumsy Williams (Gerry Mills) was good, they had some solid comedic moments. I hadn’t guessed that Williams was the murderer!   Helen Robson as Wee Jeanie was delightful.  However, her squeaky dialogue delivery was funny but occasionally difficult to decipher.  Julie Farrow as Constable Lou Tennant had some great facial expressions as the slightly hopeless sidekick to the Inspector.  Under the direction of Helen Lewis, this was a solid and smooth production and the supper was a nice touch.   

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