Archives - July 1999

MURDER IN PLAY
by Simon Brett

Produced by Mary Frost

THE PLAY

Comedy, set on stage. Egotistical Boris Smolensky is directing a budget rep of "Murder At Priorswell Manor". Rehearsals are not going well, with the cast getting on like a sackful of angry cats and Boris, never the most patient of men, at the end of his tether. And then, rather unexpectedly, Boris's wife, actress Renee is poisoned for real at the end of Act I - apparently by Boris's mistress Ginette.

Undeterred by the loss of two of his cast, Boris rearranges all the parts and continues with the production. Not everyone is happy with the arrest and imprisonment of Ginette, though - Tim and Sophie in particular are sure that she is innocent of the crime. They hatch up a revised script that will hopefully trick the real murderer into confessing, with all the suspicion pointing towards Boris. Except that the person they catch is Pat, the stage manager, who is in love with Boris and wanted him to herself...

FROM THE GROUP

Another play within a play plot. A comedy thriller about a group of professional actors staging a play during which one of the cast gets murdered for real. Who was responsible and why? Not to be taken too seriously and containing many funny moments, it gave the cast a chance to overact and ham it up. Ann Burfoot and Cheree Brooks as two actresses vying for centre stage gave wonderful, over the top performances.
This play saw the debut with the Cissbury Players of Dave Holden. Since then Dave has appeared in every one of our productions and has become one of our strongest and versatile actors.

Mary - Producer

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