Murder Mysteries

Some HAmDramS members went to see a Murder Mystery presented by Wellworth Players on 11 June at Haddenham Primary School.


This was a fun event, although unfortunately our team did not win.


HAmDramS is currently plotting the Murder Mystery we will use in October for our next production. Seeing another group's play gave us some ideas we can take forward to the next one we do.

• We liked the staging area, which was set up as an outdoor cafe, with a nice touch of coloured lights hanging from some scaffold poles.



• We also liked the Evidence Board, displaying useful documents which were alluded to throughout the performance, and which we were allowed to study during the meal.



• We were surprised by one of the performers bursting into song during a scene, however, this was a lovely touch ("Fields of Gold") and made the scene more moving.



• We were a little surprised to learn that the scenes would be rerun after the food was served, as we had been frantically making notes on Tesco receipts due to the lack of notepaper on our table. After the announcement, we were given answer sheets to fill in while the scenes were repeated (but no pens - it was definitely a "bring your own" affair).



• In the rerun, there was a change of song - the choice this time was "Roxy" from Chicago, which was accompanied by some very funny dance moves from the other characters. This song was the highlight of the show.

After the rerun, the suspects were lined up and asked to read their prepared statements (which we were also given copies of) and prepared to face the interrogation from the audience.

This is where the Wellworth Players slipped up. We were not informed that the play was set in 1985, so the audience spent a lot of time chasing apparent red herrings which were nothing of the kind: for example,

• the illegitimate daughter, according to the birth certificate on the Evidence Board, was born in 1968, which would make her 42... unless we were in 1985, although on being questioned about her age she claimed she was 21, in which case the play would be set in 1989.



• the life insurance policy taken out on the dead man by his business partner expired in 2000, making it irrelevant in 2010... but valid in 1985.

And mistakes were made by the actors, who seemed unprepared for the grilling they were going to face:

• During questioning the wife of the business partner claimed she had put money away in high interest savings accounts, such as ISAs... which didn't exist in 1985.



• The business partner forgot what was in his statement, until corrected by a member of the audience.



• Some cast members forgot the names of other cast members.

It was clear that the plotted scenes were scripted down to the dialogue, with very little improvisation from the cast, except for the two waiters, who added some quips here and there of their own devising.

This, unfortunately, let them down at the end, when they all seemed uncomfortable answering the random questions that were posed to them.

Overall, we enjoyed our evening out, and we took with us some lessons for our next Murder Mystery:

A Lesson in Murder

8-9 October 2010

Another play over...

Although producing Jean-Paul Sartre's No Way Out was challenging for the director and the cast, the play was positively received by the audience.

Wendy Rolph, on her directorial debut with a translation by Frank Hauser, staged the show brilliantly, coaxing her cast into adding expressive detail into a difficult and wordy play.

Robert Bush as revolutionary coward Garcin was highly praised for his performance as a man who admitted he was not very nice - and proved it.

Suzi Brinkler, as Ines the lesbian postal clerk, rose to the challenge admirably, creating a very believable character, and the only one who really understood that they were damned forever.

Melissa Badcock, in her first performance for HAmDramS, played rich bitch Estelle, coolly playing Garcin and Ines against each other for a place in her affections, and boasting of her misdeeds on Earth, but worrying over her lack of a mirror.

Finally, Adam Clow made the most of his time on stage as the Waiter, disinterestedly playing with a Rubik's cube whilst explaining the rules of Hell.

The stage was moved to the centre of the auditorium, enabling the audience to get up close and personal with the actors. A swelteringly hot day provided extra ambience in our non-air-conditioned theatre.

Following No Way Out was The Bear, by Anton Chekhov.

This translation, by Bernard Lawrence, set the play in Glasgow, and used Scottish dialect, which gave the actors a chance to hone their accents.

Helen Halpin was masterful as Flora McNeill, the widow whose dead husband owed money to the Bear of the title. Her insistence that she wanted to "put a bullet through your thick head" endeared her to many, while her wit and confidence made her a force to be reckoned with.

Colin Ransom played Andrew Baird (the Bear) with confidence, though he looked surprised to be slapped round the face by his co-star.

Geoff Durrant, as Leckie, provided a gem of a performance, wearing a genuine kilt and an Arran cardigan, he walked with a stoop and carried a worried expression through the whole performance.

The play, directed by Rick Rolph, provided a welcome change to the seriousness of No Way Out, and left our audience with a smile on their faces as they left the hall.