Brisbane review - Murder Mystery Keeps Audience Guessing.

By Lilian Harrington

Production: A Murder is Announced

Writer: Agatha Christie

Adaptation for Stage: Lesley Darbon.

Director: Jacqueline Kerr

Company: Villanova Players

Location: Ron Hurley Theatre

28 Tallowwood St. Seven Hills, Qld.

Season: Friday, Saturday, Sunday August 22 – 31

 7 :30 pm, Matinees 2 pm.

Bookings: info@villanovaplayers.com/ Tel.0423920832

English author and playwright, Agatha Christie has always been a very popular writer and many community theatre companies have presented her works on the local stage over the years. From: Mousetrap, Towards Zero, Witness for the Prosecution and Poirot, plus many more; her work has been seen both on stage and film and many of them have enjoyed very long seasons. Her work has always been compelling viewing, because her style dictates some challenging guess work at times; some theatres have chosen to get the audience more involved and make a game of guessing the outcome, which allows for more audience interaction.

This play has been adapted by Lesley Darbon, who has now adapted two of Christie’s tales for the stage. Her first adaptation of a Murder is Announced, opened in the late 1970s, and in 1981, she adapted “Cards on the Table”. Christie’s adapted works have proved to be popular film choices as well.

A Murder is Announced opens when those at Letitia Blacklock’s house in Little Paddocks, read a mysterious notice in the local newspaper, announcing that there will be a murder at 6 .30 pm. that evening. This notice causes a reaction and several curious locals turn up in response to it.

The murder occurs and Miss Marple arrives and proceeds to take on an investigative role, along with Inspector Craddock, who is called in. There seem to be secrets everywhere in this family. There are secrets among the seemingly innocent family members and there’s lies being told, which are gradually uncovered as the crime is investigated. In true Agatha Christie style, there are twists and turns that are not easy to see at first but they keep audience interest alive.

 Villanova Players have not disappointed in this production, because the guess work is still there and the whole team have done a good job of keeping things “under wraps” until the final scenes.

The Production team, under the capable hands of director, Jacqueline Kerr, stage construction, Lucy Moxon, and stage manager, John Evans, have designed a wonderful period style set, which created a great backdrop for this thriller. The stage was well lit, in a green-walled set, with a bay window, soft furnishings, complimentary furniture and appropriate hangings, and there was attention to detail, so it lent itself to a great setting for this dramatic murder mystery to unravel. The stage costumes were mostly appropriate to the era and the use of colour combinations worked well on stage, especially the hats worn by Mrs. Clara Swettenham (Jill Cross).

There was a mixed cast of ten players who were led by Miss Blacklock (Phillipa Bowe), Miss Marple (Desley Nicolls) and Miss Bunner or Bunny (Lorraine Fox). While first night nerves showed at times in regard to pace and energy, the stand out performances of the night came from first- time actor (Mitzi), Robyn Stumm, who played a migrant from Hungary, and left the audience amused and laughing, along with the experienced Inspector Craddock (Leo Bradley) and Patrick Simmons (Reece Milne), who moved easily into the role and used the stage very well. Trained at QUT, he has credits in several popular Australian Television Series, such as: Home and Away, The Warriors, Our Blood, Deadloch, Rake, and more.

A Murder is Announced, plays until August 31; it will keep the audience guessing.