Murdered to Death

Peter Gordon’s spoof “Murdered to Death” comes with all the traditions and characters of an Agatha Christie’s novel.  Set in Bagshot House the plot has lots twist and turns with murders, blackmail, love affairs, mystery and lots of hidden secrets.

This was an excellent production, directed by Julie Webb. A strong and confident cast excelled in their characters, all of which had two sides to them. The diction and clarity of their lines were also excellent and a lot of thought had gone into getting the set and costumes correct for the1930’s.  

In the style of many murder mysteries, we have the bumbling and rather lazy butler, Bunting, who likes a drink or two and is disrespectful towards Mildred, the lady of the house. Mark Kilburn-Stones was first class in this role.  

Elaine Veal gave a confident portrayal of Mildred, the wealthy owner of Bagshot House.A number of people would love to get their hands on her money. Mildred’s secret was that in the past she had a love affair with Charles, the Colonel. She now wants to re-open their affair but Charles is none too keen and she threatens to tell his wife if he doesn’t respond to her advances. First sign of blackmail.

Dorothy, played by Yasmin Angove-Middleton, gave a splendid performance as Mildred’s meek and mild niece with the job of looking after her aunt and running the house. However, she discovered that the paintings sold to her aunt by a dodgy art dealer where in fact fake. So when the dealer and his “lady” friend arrived, Dorothy was not afraid to use a bit of blackmail on them.

Michael Flint played the boring Colonel Charles Craddock with the required stiff upper lip. He also had a hidden secret; making up stories of all the battles he fought in when the truth was he had a desk job. Michael’s characterisation of the Colonel was splendid.Jill Connell took the role as the Colonel’s long-suffering wife, Margaret, putting up with the “old girl” label and listening to his boring stories. Margaret also had hidden secrets of her own which are not revealed until the end of the play. What a turn of character - Jill skilfully handled this with ease.

Elliott Cable, with an exaggerated French accent, was Pierre Marceau, the very dodgy art dealer. Along with his side-kick Elizabeth Hartley-Trumpington with a phoney cut-glass accent, played by Claire Martin, they were not who they pretended to be. These two actors worked very well together, not only changing their accents but their characterizations as well. Two great performances.

A Peter Gordon production would not be the same if we did not have a “Miss Marple” character as the interfering busy-body, Joan Maple, who couldn’t be happier than having a couple of murders to solve and getting the better of the police. This kind of role is always well sought after and Sue Martin was spot-on. 

After the murders of Mildred and Dorothy, the police were called in – with the help of Miss Maple of course. Dorothy would have inherited her aunt’s fortune and both of them were inclined to do a bit of blackmaill. 

Constable Thompkins, played by Gregg Muscroft, was the real brains of the police but somehow he kept getting shot in the foot by Inspector Pratt. Gregg played this role with ease - a fine performance.

Last, but not least, Inspector Pratt – Pratt by name and Pratt by nature. The man truly believes in what he says and does, is accident prone and interprets and pronounces words incorrectly that no-one can understand. These antics had the audience in fits of laughter.  This is not an easy role, with difficult dialogue for the actor requiring speed and accuracy. Lee Sanderson was brilliant.

We the audience didn’t really know who the murderer was and why, but we all were surprised when this were revealed. Congratulations to the cast for keeping the secret.

 This was a fine and well-directed production and everyone on stage excelled in their characters. Thank you for making us all laugh which is so much needed these days. Thank you also for your hospitality and we look forward to your next production.

 

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