19: 2008 - Wanted - One Body!

A box set with a couple of extras thrown in. The setting for this comedy mystery is a lonely old house in the country, period unspecified but probably in the 60s. The plot revolves around the comings and goings of a murderer and the alarming post-mortem disappearance of his victims. The set is supposed to be quite gloomy - which it was with the lights down, as they so often were during the play - but because of its largely-uncluttered look and plain decor, it doesn't look too unwelcoming in full light.

The stage right corner is where all the trickery comes in, with a soundlessly sliding secret panel (built on greased runners) leading into a secret passageway. Late in the play, one of the characters is discovered bound and gagged inside the large chest. It would have been too much discomfort to leave him in there from the start of the act, so the hole was put in to allow him to sneak in just before he was discovered.

A lot of use of light was made to convey the atmosphere. One of the rather less successful experiments was using an ordinary green bulb offstage - the bodies are supposed to be stored in the room on stage right - which turned out not to be bright enough to throw the desired greenish tinge out through the doorway.

The single most difficult thing with the stage was in keeping the secret passage sufficiently concealed to hide whoever was using it. Unfortunately, space constraints - it was a large cast and needed a lot of room - prevented us extending the passage further out across the back, which would have made the task easier. Also unfortunately, the murderer - when unveiled - was of a very distinctive build and it would have been patently obvious that the mysterious passage user had not been him most of the time! Misdirection with lighting, partly-opened panels and enticing people into the passage rather than snatching them out of the room had to take care of this on the nights.

All in all, a very efficient set with little frippery that worked well as a vehicle for the quite hectic plot.