Events - May 2009

In one of those unusual coincidences, the publicity for the charity Murder Mystery Evenings led to the organisers being contacted with a request for us to perform something similar as a surprise birthday party. Whilst we have performed outside of our own stage on occasion, it has always been at public events - I think this must be the first request we've had for a private performance. Anyway, a quick survey showed there were enough folks around willing to take a(nother) crack at what can only be considered improvisational acting, so we agreed to do it.

Paul, who made the request, proved immensely affable about the whole business, arranged the script package and handed it all over for us to beat it into some kind of shape. Murder At The Manor, a dark tale of poisoning, was from the same stable as the previous package we had used, so it wasn't too hard to work out what was needed. Shorter and with a smaller cast, but more technical than "A Question Of Murder", it was sufficiently different to keep us entertained (- not that that was the main concern, of course!).

Taking starring roles again were Trevor (Sir Marcus Hetherington-Smyth, soon to be late), Gareth (sleazy MP Nigel Hetherington-Smyth), Lyndsey (daughter Briony Hetherington-Smyth) and Samantha (hard-nosed copper Caroline Shepherd). Ann (Lady Cynthia Hetherington-Smyth) and Dave (butler Arnold Rowbottom) joined us this time to complete the cast and once again I found myself with the executive producer role. A couple of rehearsals had us fairly confident, then it was off to the Black Horse in Findon for the live show.

Given that the skittle alley there is a completely different shape to Gareth's front room where we walked it through, everyone had to pretty much wing their entire repertoire of moves. Being seasoned veterans, I thought they did a fine job of coping both with that and with an audience sitting about five feet away! Considering we had to ferry in all the props and create a front room on the fly, I thought it all went well - and the audience were good enough to give us a "curtain call" at the end. And, yes, most of them guessed the villain correctly.

Anyway, we had fun doing it and the audience were lovely people who made us feel right at home. Paul very kindly laid on food and drink and we sincerely hope that Paula - whose birthday it was - had a great time of it. At the very least the surprise part worked, judging by the look on her face when we announced ourselves!

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