Murder in Play

Merstham Amateur Dramatic Society (MADS)

Merstham Village Hall

Reviewed by Tony Flook

Simon Brett has made something of a speciality of writing books and plays with theatrical settings.

Murder in Play shows him in fine form with an engaging so-called 'comedy thriller' which has a fair share of amusing one-liners if few thrills and a transparent ending.

MADS caught the tongue-in-cheek mood of the play with an entertaining production, directed by Jacquelyn Wynter.

Theatrical director Boris Smolensky and his company of inept actors are about to open a touring production of his deplorable new play, Murder at Priorswell Manor. It is obviously not a happy team – everyone seems to have a grudge or personal problem and it is no surprise when one actress is poisoned on stage.

Jackie Curran dominated the first act as the bitchy Renee who missed no chance to demean the other thespians with her biting (and often witty) comments. The main target of her venom was Ginette, played by Christine Usher, who managed a convincing upmarket accent for her role in the play but uncultured tones as her 'real life' self.

The reason for the hatred – Renee was married to Boris but he had targeted Ginette as the latest in a long line of extra-marital conquests. George Duda, in striking Lincoln green trousers, looked and acted the part as the womanising Boris, with his delusions of grandeur.

The script gives clues that the past his sell-by date Harrison is as camp as a row of tents but Mike Hill's interpretation did not make this obvious.

Marion Barker came, attractively and persuasively, to the fore in the second act as Sophie who, with help from Steve Jones playing Tim – Tim is surely too bad an actor for even an amateur group – unravelled the not-so complex truth.

Apart from a few stumbles and the occasional drop in pace, the cast kept the play moving fast enough to paper over the cracks in the amusing if unconvincing plot. Cue bite was almost always sharp, speech conversational and grouping natural – particularly important when all eight actors were on stage together.

Richard Glenn's set design did more than justice to the play-within-a-play. Elegant wallpaper, a fireplace, French windows giving a peep into the garden plus cleverly arranged entrance points all helped to make Priorswell Manor fit for a better production than Boris's ramshackle company was likely to mount.