Middle Ground Theatre Company Ltd presents
Agatha Christie’s
A Murder is Announced
A Miss Marple Mystery
Palace Theatre
21st - 26th August 2017
Agatha Christie’s
A Murder is Announced
A Miss Marple Mystery
Palace Theatre
21st - 26th August 2017
Oh we do love a murder mystery in Southend, don’t we? At least I assume this is the case as there seem to be so many productions that come to the Palace Theatre throughout the year. Looking at their back catalogue, Middle Ground seems to have caught on to this concept and, although they produce plays that aren’t all entirely murder mystery related, this genre seems to be an audience pleaser that I suspect keeps them afloat. You don’t really have to be Miss Marple to figure that one out. Talking of which..
Agatha Christies’ favourite female amateur sleuth makes an appearance in A Murder is Announced, Middle Ground’s most recent touring production which comes to the Palace Theatre this week. The residents of Chipping Cleghorn are astonished to read an advert in the local newspaper that a murder will take place this coming Friday at Little Paddocks, the home of Letitia Blacklock.
Unable to resist, the group gather at the house at the appointed time, when the lights go out and a gun is fired. Enter Miss Marple, who must unravel a complex series of relationships and events to solve the mystery of the killer.
We are invited in to the living room of Letitia Blacklock, where the action takes place over the period of a couple of weeks - not in real life - good Lord no, although to be fair the Southend Theatres’ website does say the play lasts for 2 hours and 50 minutes which prompted me to have a strong cup of coffee before it started but in fact is just 2 hours and 15 minutes long, which actually was just right.
Thanks to Leslie Darbon’s adaption of this piece for the stage, unlike a lot of murder mystery productions I’ve seen, has a good and jolly pace to it. I say jolly because actually there’s a lot of fun to be had with some frequent laugh-out-loud moments, albeit rather twee ones but come on this is Agatha Christie.
Another nice touch is the intermittent music played between scene changes giving the play an almost cinematic touch thanks to Lynette Webster’s original musical compositions.
Leading roles are played by Janet Dibley as Letitia Blacklock, who most will remember from The Two of Us co-starring Nicholas Lyndhurst, and Louise Jameson, (Dr Who, Bergerac, Tenko & Doc Martin) who takes on the formidable role of Miss Marple. Both these ladies have great stage presence and neither disappoint although I do feel that Louise Jameson is far too young and robust to be playing an elderly spinster.
Tom Butcher plays the laid back Inspector Craddock who leads the investigation, all the while rather graciously allowing Miss Marple to stick in her two penn’orths worth. He has that almost Colombo’esque air that makes us think he already knows who the murderer is and amusingly his dialogue has the somewhat quizzical tones of actor, Jim Broadbent.
There are some really well defined characters in this production and all of the cast put in some great performances. My favourite, however, has to be Lydia Piechowiak as “chief cook and bucket (sic) washer” Mitzi who provided lots of the laughs throughout, in a fabulous supporting role.
Of course, I cannot possibly disclose who the murderer is and their reasons, mostly because half way through the play the storyline went off into a lot of talk about long lost relatives and cousins in Scotland which made my mind to start to wander a bit. However, we were very soon back on track in Act 2 and after a few twists and turns the evening was concluded with the clever and cunning reveal of the murderer.
If you want to find out whodunnit, get along to the Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea and see if you can guess who the murder is before Miss Marple does!
Tickets available online at www.southendtheatres.org.uk or call the box office on 01702 351135
Agatha Christies’ favourite female amateur sleuth makes an appearance in A Murder is Announced, Middle Ground’s most recent touring production which comes to the Palace Theatre this week. The residents of Chipping Cleghorn are astonished to read an advert in the local newspaper that a murder will take place this coming Friday at Little Paddocks, the home of Letitia Blacklock.
Unable to resist, the group gather at the house at the appointed time, when the lights go out and a gun is fired. Enter Miss Marple, who must unravel a complex series of relationships and events to solve the mystery of the killer.
We are invited in to the living room of Letitia Blacklock, where the action takes place over the period of a couple of weeks - not in real life - good Lord no, although to be fair the Southend Theatres’ website does say the play lasts for 2 hours and 50 minutes which prompted me to have a strong cup of coffee before it started but in fact is just 2 hours and 15 minutes long, which actually was just right.
Thanks to Leslie Darbon’s adaption of this piece for the stage, unlike a lot of murder mystery productions I’ve seen, has a good and jolly pace to it. I say jolly because actually there’s a lot of fun to be had with some frequent laugh-out-loud moments, albeit rather twee ones but come on this is Agatha Christie.
Another nice touch is the intermittent music played between scene changes giving the play an almost cinematic touch thanks to Lynette Webster’s original musical compositions.
Leading roles are played by Janet Dibley as Letitia Blacklock, who most will remember from The Two of Us co-starring Nicholas Lyndhurst, and Louise Jameson, (Dr Who, Bergerac, Tenko & Doc Martin) who takes on the formidable role of Miss Marple. Both these ladies have great stage presence and neither disappoint although I do feel that Louise Jameson is far too young and robust to be playing an elderly spinster.
Tom Butcher plays the laid back Inspector Craddock who leads the investigation, all the while rather graciously allowing Miss Marple to stick in her two penn’orths worth. He has that almost Colombo’esque air that makes us think he already knows who the murderer is and amusingly his dialogue has the somewhat quizzical tones of actor, Jim Broadbent.
There are some really well defined characters in this production and all of the cast put in some great performances. My favourite, however, has to be Lydia Piechowiak as “chief cook and bucket (sic) washer” Mitzi who provided lots of the laughs throughout, in a fabulous supporting role.
Of course, I cannot possibly disclose who the murderer is and their reasons, mostly because half way through the play the storyline went off into a lot of talk about long lost relatives and cousins in Scotland which made my mind to start to wander a bit. However, we were very soon back on track in Act 2 and after a few twists and turns the evening was concluded with the clever and cunning reveal of the murderer.
If you want to find out whodunnit, get along to the Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea and see if you can guess who the murder is before Miss Marple does!
Tickets available online at www.southendtheatres.org.uk or call the box office on 01702 351135
Ask the Audience
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Kathryn Burns, 35, Wakering
“I thought it was very good. All the actors were very good. The gun shot really made me jump. I would definitely recommend people come and see it!” Julie Burns, 59, Wakering
“I’ve actually read the book but I couldn’t remember who the murderer was! I thought it was slightly confusing at times but on the whole it was very good.” |
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