Content warning: Murder
Murder Village is not my first improv show nor is it to be my last. Promoted as a 1950s Agatha Christie-inspired on-the-spot classic murder mystery romp for all ages, the show is a much-rewarded veteran of the comedy and Fringe scenes. Even on its preview run, the cast and crew alike are a bona fide treasure.
It starts with something like this: we (my theatre companion and I) arrived at Hamer Hall. Closed. Shut. We soon realised the deception: our show is to take place at the Theatres Building. The culprit? Google Maps. We rush to the other Arts Centre and already, a queue is snaking around the corridors of the seventh floor. A QR Code is offered around, an aperitif for the night to come, we presume. We make an almost vain attempt to connect to the Wifi and are then led to the QR code’s destination: a quaint Google Form. Peculiar. Prior to the show starting, we are prompted to vote on the night’s affairs: who is the killer? Who is the victim? What is the murder weapon? What is the clue? Why are the villagers gathering once a year for a mysterious event? Much to think about.
At the door, a gentleman in a smart suit and fedora greets us. We know not his role in the succeeding affairs. Yet. He says to us affably, “Enjoy the show. Above all, try not to get murdered.” An encouraging start. We take our seats in the third row because I’m very short and the seats are floor height; there’s no way I’m reviewing a show I can’t see. The Art Centre Members’ Lounge has a cold and clinical feel to it; a fitting atmosphere for what is certain and advertised to be approaching murder. After the audience fills in, a woman in a blue polka dot dress with a feather duster leaps from the front row: Verity Garner (played by Kathryn Tohill), the all-knowing cleaning lady, welcomes us to Murder Village.
While I anticipated launching straight into the murder, I was proven wrong, to my great delight. Running off of the prompts that the audience had voted off before entering the performance space, the gentleman reveals himself as Detective Inspector Owen Gullet (played by David Massingham), a charming, deeply charismatic if personage leading not only a brilliant ensemble but a masterful foray into the genre. The show took great care to introduce us not only to the quaint, charmingly homicidal world of Murder Village in 1954, but the characters too. From the presumptuous Colonel Jude Condiment (Jason Geary) to the haughty Flight Attendant Kitty Flanagan (Jenni Townsend) to endearing Fishmonger Briony Berryweather (Amy Moule) to Peter Smith who is a totally average British man and not a Russian spy (Cameron Neill), every actor put their all into the performance.
More than an impromptu narrative, the show takes you through multiple emotional journeys and winds through an unending series of comedic bits. This preview performance followed the residents of the village as they prepared for the Annual “Competitive Handshaking” Competition – a prompt suggested by my friend in the Google Form! With the first half portraying a flashback from Inspector Gullet and the recollections of his hoard of orphan informants (whom he compensates with weekly oranges), and the second half as a collaboration between Gullet and Verity, conflict and comedy went hand in hand. From mimed smashed crumpets to socialism allusions (very topical) and jokes about Keats where both characters clearly hadn’t studied the poet, the ensemble builds the means, the motive and the mockery. Laughter is a central feature of the night. Throughout, Jason Why—my personal MVP and the improv pianist—provides a live soundtrack, emanating the atmospheric aural delights of old school mystery score while the lighting team complements each scene with perfect washes. By the end, even when it was starting to feel predictable, the tongue-in-cheek humour and sincere energy of the cast brought it all in. Verity joins “dots that don’t exist yet,” the Inspector makes a metanarrative joke of “we’re having a denouement,” and the big reveal of the final murderer leads to a raucous round of well-deserved applause.
Rarely did I remember that the show was improvised. From physicality to witticisms, there was something to be applauded. Get in on the murder if you can, or else.
Murder Village runs at the Arts Centre Members Lounge from 27th March to April 6th
Photographer Credit: Mark Gambino