Murder, She Didn’t Write
Leicester Square Theatre
Reviewed – 25th February 2018
★★★
“a unique show that is filled with mayhem and mischief”
A classic whodunnit is never boring, and when it’s completely improvised and the audience get to take part, it’s twice as fun. Degrees of Error theatre company present a unique show that is filled with mayhem and mischief, and leaves the audience in stitches. Despite being put under pressure to deliver a performance that meets the audience’s expectations, this talented cast still portrayed a very funny and entertaining performance, (even if the audience suggestions were quite crude).
Stephen Clements did an excellent job at welcoming the audience and making us really feel part of this murder mystery. An audience member then decided that the murder would take place at a Hen Party, and the weapon that was used to kill the victim would be a wet tea towel. Slightly bizarre, but nevertheless the cast were able to pull off some hilarious sketches. A particular favourite of mine was when Peter Baker (who played the excited husband to be) had to create a poem about hens, chickens and women. This was extremely funny, purely because none of it made any sense. Produced by the same company, Something for the Weekend, the show reminded me of, ‘Showstopper! The improvised musical,’ except ‘Murder, She Didn’t Write,’ replaced songs with poems about hens.
Improvising is a truly difficult skill and I appreciate that it’s a lot of hard work, but occasionally I felt that the cast were getting too caught up in the whole chicken side of things, and were drifting away from the main plot. Peter Baker worked hard at moving the narrative forward, but the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the cast. He was the only one determined to find out who killed his fiancée, Violet Violet.
Poor decision choices from Rachael Lane also started to make this show lose its momentum. At first she entered the stage with a tall posture, delivering her lines with a very impressive RP accent. However, the second time she entered the stage she was hunched over, and spoke with a rather odd Bristol accent. What’s more, her character started with a real fear of birds and chickens, yet when Geves (played by the comical Tom Bridges) enters holding one, she did not show any fear whatsoever.
In the end, we discovered that Scarlett Scarlett (Tessa Gaukroger) murdered Violet Violet as she wanted to be the only person that had a repetitive name. Not the most sensible of motives, but then again I suppose this added to the weird and wonderfulness of this show.
All in all, it was a good show that certainly made me laugh, but feel that some tweaks could help improve the show.
Reviewed by Jessica Brewer
Photography by Jamie Corbin
Murder, She Didn’t Write
Leicester Square Theatre
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