Production

Comedy mystery, sequel to "Murdered To Death" and "Secondary Cause Of Death" (also in our Archives, in 1994 and 2001, respectively).

It is November 1940 and Constable Thomkins, searching for a missing fellow policeman, arrives at Bagshot Manor. He is met by Land girl Ginny Farquhar and the house's owner, Nancy Allwright - daughter of the late Colonel Charles Craddock (who was murdered at the end of "Secondary Cause Of Death"). Thomkins has just enough time to explain that Inspector Pratt has been unleashed once again, when the great man himself enters. Having just run over Miss Maple on the way in.

With the scene set and his talent for utter incompetence firmly established, Pratt sets about interrogating the inhabitants. He learns that the missing Constable is not a painting, that Ginny is not a man, that Nancy's husband is missing and that Miss Maple is not to be trifled with. As the house is now a B&B, he also meets the paying guests and struggles to make any sense of either Enzo the Italian womaniser or Bedwyn the Welsh mystic. Not as much as they struggle to make sense of him, though. In the end, it is Thomkins who spots a blood trail leading into the closed main wing of the house. Bedwyn warns there may be terrible danger from ghosts, but Pratt sends Thomkins to investigate anyway. Just at that point, Squadron Leader Roger Allwright, Nancy's husband, returns. It transpires that he had been shot down over France but managed to escape back to England.

Things happen around Pratt. He fails to grasp most of them, missing out on Roger's dubious "injured" leg, the strange hold Enzo has over Nancy and the way Miss Maple seems to be steering his investigation for him. Bereft of clues, Pratt eventually seizes on Bedwyn's suggestion of a seance, where Dougal the Scottish spirit guide puts him in touch with Colonel Craddock. From the Colonel's story it appears Nancy may have killed the constable and that Enzo knows it. And as the seance ends, Enzo himself stumbles in, collapses and dies!

It all goes downhill after that, as circumstances compel everyone to reveal the truth. Nancy is not the Colonel's daughter, but is Miss Maple's illegitimate child. Miss Maple herself had the Colonel's will forged to leave Nancy the house, and had Nancy pretend to be a widow in order to make her a respectable single woman and be able to start an orphanage. Unfortunately, Enzo - who was really Archie - discovered the scheme and brought in his brother - who is really Geoffrey - to pretend to be Roger. His ultimate plan was to murder Nancy (and Miss Maple) and have Geoffrey inherit and then sell the house! It turns out that Bedwyn - Ginny's uncle and on the make for a ghosthunting reputation - overheard some of this and faked the seance...during which Enzo tried it on with Ginny and got fatally clobbered for his pains. Thomkins knew most of this, by virtue of having an affair with Nancy, so it is only Pratt who finds it all a surprise. More so when it is explained to him that everyone in the room except himself is guilty of some sort of crime, from withholding evidence all the way up to murder. Pratt elects to take the easy way out and pretend that none of it happened except for Enzo killing the late Constable and later dying of a heart attack. They are all shocked to learn, though - in one last twist - that the seance worked after all and the ghost of Colonel Craddock is still watching them!

"Death by Fatal Murder" was favourably received by an appreciative audience on all three nights. In fact, we had to turn people away at the Friday performance, being unable to pack anymore in! Everyone we could accommodate agreed they had a really good evening. All the cast played their characters with enthusiasm and a sense of fun, bringing out the full comedy as the author intended.

The play got off to a cracking start with Sam's portrayal of Land Army girl Ginny with her horrendous braying laugh and Mike's sarcastic Policeman played with great timing. Joining them Carol, as Nancy Allwright, brought a little sanity to the proceedings. Then along came the terrible duo of Inspector Pratt and Miss Maple (Dave and Ann at full throttle!!). The audience loved them and the laughter gave the actors a further boost and spurred them on to even more silliness. Pratt's mangling of words was particularly well received. No sooner had they come to terms with these characters then the audience were confronted by two more outrageous creations in the shape of womanising Italian Enzo Garibaldi, played with wonderful accent and much nudging and winking by Zahir, and 'mystic' Bedwyn Morgan: a truly great performance by Stuart. Completing the line up was the mysterious visitor that brought Act 1 to an end.

Act 11 continued in the same vein. More was seen of the visitor who turned out to be Nancy's war-wounded husband played with stiff upper lip (and leg!!) by Mike M., making his debut with the Players. The act culminated in an hilarious seance scene nicely delivered and making full use of the comic potential by Dave, Ann and Stuart .

Although rather lengthy, (maybe in hindsight a little judicious trimming would have been in order), Act 111 went well and still got plenty of laughs. Listening to audience comments on the way out the overall effect was everyone felt they had been thoroughly entertained.

My thanks must go to the cast for three fine performances and to the backstage crew for once again doing a sterling job, particularly Damien for whom everything was new. I was extremely pleased with the results of everyone's hard labour.

Archives - July 2009

DEATH BY FATAL MURDER
by Peter Gordon

PROGRAMME

(Click To View)

Archives - July 2009

DEATH BY FATAL MURDER by Peter Gordon

PROGRAMME

(Click To View)

DEATH BY FATAL MURDER
by Peter Gordon