Murder She Didn’t Write
Leicester Square Theatre
Reviewed – 23rd September 2018
★★★★
“the audience entered into the spirit of the show with gusto“
Degrees of Error are an improvised theatre company based in Bristol, and ‘Murder She Didn’t Write’ has been touring the UK since 2013. It is a fun romp of a show. One pianist, one lady detective and five other actors had the audience in stitches and had a lot of fun in the process.
I always feel slightly sorry for actors who are preset on stage, and the detective had to sit and peruse her books for a good fifteen minutes before the show began. The pianist played in the background, creating a good atmosphere before the action. Unfortunately I was not able to get a cast list, so these talented improvisors will remain unnamed, which is a shame.
The detective got the show off to a good start, getting people to look around suspiciously at their fellow audience members, as ‘there is a murderer in the room.’ One person was nominated as Jerkins, the hapless assistant, and suggestions were solicited as to the location of the crime and the murder weapon. And so we watched a crazy tale set in a plastic surgery hospital in Basildon, where a foul murder was carried out using a syringe made of ice!
So ‘who done it?’ Was it Mr Green with a stick in the morgue? Miss Violet in the office with poison? Mr Blue in the consulting room with a plant? Well, we knew it would be a syringe, but neither the audience nor the actors knew more than that!
The actors enjoyed themselves immensely as the plot thickened around them, and the audience entered into the spirit of the show with gusto, and a lot of laughter. Watching the cast get themselves and each other out of tricky situations, and accept the twists and turns of the story that were thrust upon them was delightful and hilarious. The detective’s interjections changed the ’scenes’, ably assisted by simple lighting changes. The story was told with the use of minimal set and props; a table, a wicker screen and a couple of plants, a walking stick, a bottle and not much else.
Degrees of Error are performing the show at the Leicester Square Theatre once a month at the moment and, if you fancy some madcap entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, I suggest you go and see them. Who knows where the crime scene will be next time, and who will be the villain? Wherever it will be, and whoever will commit the crime, a lot of fun will be had by all.
Reviewed by Katre
Photography by Jamie Corbin
Murder She Didn’t Write
Leicester Square Theatre – next performances 14th October & 18th November
Related
Previously reviewed at this venue
Sh*t-faced Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet | ★★★★ | June 2018
Sh*t-faced Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice | ★★★★ | April 2018
Sh*t-faced Showtime: Oliver With a Twist! | ★★★ | September 2018
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