Murder Room

As we emerge out of these strange times I have the up most respect for this society that has had to have a new start and Committee, to be able to perform Murder Room by Jack Sharkey as we know we have lost so many Societies around the country. St Vincent’s ADS has been going for over 25 years and sadly lost a very valued member, Owen Riley, who would normally design and build the set with Bert Halliday. His design lives on, and the team went on to build it.

Murder Room opens up with the music Life Could Be A Dream by The Chords, we are in the house of Edgar Hollister. The set looked the part, Set by Owen Riley (RIP), Bert Halliday, Christopher Ward & Brian Heather & other committee members. Lighting by Karl Gerrard enhanced the set.

Costume looked good and fitted the characters with the character Mavis having a lot of costume changes with some fabulous dresses (Wardrobe by Patricia Quinlan).

Irene Holmes director and says in her programme notes that it’s full of sound, lighting and gadgetry, intricate plot and lots and lots of words! Well! there certainly was fast paced dialogue backwards and forwards in a dialectic manner often leaving the character as confused as the audience - very funny! The secret passage was well done and funny too.  The freeze frames that ensued towards the end of the play worked well and were very amusing - always one person out on the side-lines reading a paper - very effective!

James Crandall. Inspector of Police (or was he?) played by Paul Jameson did a great job and I have to say the clues were there, but I did not guess the deception. His slightly on edge persona and then his confusion when found out played out nicely - good job!

Barry Draper played by Wayne Lythgoe as Susan’s American Fiancé did really well with the American accent throughout the play and yes! I can say that three times - good character!

Mrs Lottie Molloy the housekeeper played by Kay Unsworth: her character was spot on playing the archetypal gossip and busybody. Nothing gets past her - not even car headlights! Loved her line “that makes a lot of sense” She was clearly playing an older person than her years and it worked - if anything she could have pushed it more.

Susan Hollister, Edgars Daughter was played by Gillian Parkinson, she certainly looked the part, but I felt she was uncomfortable in the role. I think the character of Susan who doesn’t quite get what’s going on could have been exaggerated - not just with the lines but with facial expressions too (be careful of looking into the audience and breaking the ‘fourth wall’) . . .looking the part is half the job done, so just have more confidence in yourself, Gillian!.

Mavis Templeton Hollister played by Carmela Horne has a sizeable script to get her teeth into and the twists and turns of this farce kept us guessing. Married for one day and wanting to kill your husband with hot cocoa was hilarious. Great at evading questions and having a lover accomplice on the side it was hard to keep up with quick fire conversation back and forth. She looked suitably shifty for us to guess she was up to no good but at times we could feel sympathy for her when the tables were turned – impressive!

Edgar Hollister was played by Keith Hindley - when I first saw him I thought ‘OMG that wig, Nooo!’ then it became apparent why – hilarious! There is something Norman Wisdom/Count Arthur Strong-like about Keith - I think he could just stand there and I would laugh at him. Sadly, his demise was too soon only to be taken over by the character Abel Howard the Policeman. You are soon aware of why the same actor needs to play both these roles. Let’s just mention the deceased cat! Again, when I saw it after a moment thinking why would you have a cat like that on stage, could they not have got a better one? Then it’s soon explained - so funny!

The fast-paced confused dialogue was handled well.

So good to see St Vincent’s up and running again and a big shout out to all who helped in that.

Thank you for making my guest and I feel so welcome and looking after us so well

 

Liz Hume-Dawson

District 5 Rep

 

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