Secondary Cause of Death

“Secondary Cause of Death” is the second in a trilogy of plays by Peter Gordon. Set in the early spring of 1939 a group of seemingly unperceptive guests gather for a “Murder Mystery” evening at Bagshot House, owned by Colonel Cradock.

The action of the play takes place in the library and I must say the audience applause generated when the curtains opened was well and truly deserved. A perfectly proportioned set indeed.

Lighting was appropriate and the choice of incidental music suited well.

Jane Southey showed just how experienced an actress she is with her portraya0 ofl the complex character, Lady Isadora Pollock, and Mary Goodfellow was most convincing as the Mystery Organiser Cynthia Maple.

Peter McIntyre had the complicated task of portraying two convincing characters and achieved the impossible, making me look twice. Kevin Rayment as Count Puchlik and Elaine Savage as Henrietta were well cast together and their consistency with stylised accents went down a treat. Very Funny!

However, it was the dim-witted Inspector Pratt played by Martin Gouldstone , who was described as a “multiple-metaphor-mangling and constantly error-prone Inspector Pratt” that stole the show. What a difficult script to master and many congratulations on the time and effort you must have put into learning your lines. Amazing.

This play was an excellent choice for the Digswell Players and my congratulations to Director Maureen Davies for casting it so effectively.   

The performance was great fun and I know the audience, also, really enjoyed themselves.

Thank you for your generous hospitality and I hope to see you all again soon

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