A triumph in Penge!
Yesterday it was the day of the Murder Mystery that we organised as a Residents Association social event.
Adrian, who was the organiser, was a bit stressed until the moment when we were allowed in the church hall to set up at 2:30 pm.
I was slightly worried that people wouldn't have enjoyed "Lady Bountiful's Drawing Room Drama" as I wrote it (although all the neighbours that played parts were quite taken with it).
At 3:00 pm we had our dress rehearsal:
Before the play, video introductions of all the characters were shown: Miranda and Lynne did a great job of editing the videos.
Any concern that not many people would have turned up were misfounded as we quickly had to add more chairs for the audience.
Our dearest friend David travelled all the way from Cardiff to play Inspector Knowall, and he was wonderful:
(here he's grilling Lucille Grosvenor)
In the interval mulled wine and mince pies were served and the audience were asked to solve the murder by analysing the 3 statements given by each of the 6 suspects (2 were true and 1 was false for each of them). Clue sheets were provided to help with the logic puzzle.
David later read the explanation (helped by a Powerpoint presentation).
Well everybody but one teenage girl (who - I think - used her instict) fell in the trap!
The clues led to two possible murderers: Pablo Bizarro - a Spanish artist - who had a motive for killing the journalist (he was trying to link him to a model, a boy who had drowned in the river) and Lady Bountiful - who didn't a motive.
The twist was that Lady Bountiful had meant to kill her niece Lucille but the journalist got the wrong glass.
None of the cast (apart from the inspector) knew the solution and Sim, who played Her Ladyship, was taken aback by the solution and rather shocked to have to read her confession, handed to her in a gold envelope!
We were very pleased with the afternoon as everybody seemed to have a great time and tried to solve the murder... I was also rather flattered at being complimented on the clever plot (Lucille - who appeared from the confession to be a little monster - wasn't quite as pleased when was booed! )
(regular readers may recognise this trio here)
Lady Evelyn Bountiful, Mrs Diana Darkhorse, Miss Lucille Grosvenor, Miss Virginia Lamb (Miss Georgina Ditzy is missing)
Mr James Spotless, Revd Thomas Lamb, Major James Stiff, Mr John Hack, Mr Pablo Bizarro, Inspector Knowall
The organiser and the author
Adrian, who was the organiser, was a bit stressed until the moment when we were allowed in the church hall to set up at 2:30 pm.
I was slightly worried that people wouldn't have enjoyed "Lady Bountiful's Drawing Room Drama" as I wrote it (although all the neighbours that played parts were quite taken with it).
At 3:00 pm we had our dress rehearsal:
Before the play, video introductions of all the characters were shown: Miranda and Lynne did a great job of editing the videos.
Any concern that not many people would have turned up were misfounded as we quickly had to add more chairs for the audience.
Our dearest friend David travelled all the way from Cardiff to play Inspector Knowall, and he was wonderful:
(here he's grilling Lucille Grosvenor)
In the interval mulled wine and mince pies were served and the audience were asked to solve the murder by analysing the 3 statements given by each of the 6 suspects (2 were true and 1 was false for each of them). Clue sheets were provided to help with the logic puzzle.
David later read the explanation (helped by a Powerpoint presentation).
Well everybody but one teenage girl (who - I think - used her instict) fell in the trap!
The clues led to two possible murderers: Pablo Bizarro - a Spanish artist - who had a motive for killing the journalist (he was trying to link him to a model, a boy who had drowned in the river) and Lady Bountiful - who didn't a motive.
The twist was that Lady Bountiful had meant to kill her niece Lucille but the journalist got the wrong glass.
None of the cast (apart from the inspector) knew the solution and Sim, who played Her Ladyship, was taken aback by the solution and rather shocked to have to read her confession, handed to her in a gold envelope!
We were very pleased with the afternoon as everybody seemed to have a great time and tried to solve the murder... I was also rather flattered at being complimented on the clever plot (Lucille - who appeared from the confession to be a little monster - wasn't quite as pleased when was booed! )
(regular readers may recognise this trio here)
Lady Evelyn Bountiful, Mrs Diana Darkhorse, Miss Lucille Grosvenor, Miss Virginia Lamb (Miss Georgina Ditzy is missing)
Mr James Spotless, Revd Thomas Lamb, Major James Stiff, Mr John Hack, Mr Pablo Bizarro, Inspector Knowall
The organiser and the author