A laconic narrator steps onto a barren stage and looks down at the chalk outline of a murder victim.
Photo © The Blank Slate Ensemble
“It was a cold winter’s day in Nova Scotia,” he intones sombrely. “But our story doesn’t take place there. Instead we find ourselves somewhere far more sinister. Swindon.”
If such an opening makes you laugh, then you would have had as great a time as the packed audience at Blank Slate Ensemble’s madcap murder mystery montage Who Bloody Dunnit?, showing sadly for one night only as part of the Bath Fringe.
It’s a zany, irreverent and often surreal 70 minute romp through two contrasting murder stories which are linked by their suspiciously similar titles – Murder in ‘A’ Minor and Murder in a Manor (the reason for this is revealed by Detective Luke Warm half way through, in one of the production’s many laugh-out-loud moments).
Featured in both stories are Detective Warm and Inspector Gethin Hotter, who investigate murders around modern-day Swindon despite being 1940s noirish New York cop types (Warm was transferred there from Manhattan by coach, we are informed).
In the first story, all but one of the members of Swindon Philharmonic Orchestra have been bumped off by a mysterious assailant (cue endless excellent gags about composers), whilst in the second, the victim is the absurdly wealthy banker Lord Nat of the West, who leaves behind his grieving-yet-still-vampy widow Lady Halle Fax and their three nightmarish toothy children.
Can Warm and Hotter crack these cases, or will they be next on the murderer/murderers/murderesses’ list?
Much of the success or failure of any theatre show rests upon how much genuine fun the cast appear to be having, and here it is evident that they are having a ball, with clear affection for the material.
This is a triumph of pace, humour and memorable moments, and they have the helpless audience firmly in their hand.
The script by Ross Brown, Toby Allen-Smith and Joe Makarov is clever, twisted and endlessly entertaining, comparing well with well-loved movie equivalents such as Clue or Murder by Death (which, by the way, is great!), and the laugh-per-minute ratio is kept high, including clever repeated gags (such as murder victims having to contort themselves to fit into the chalk outline, and the inspector magically appearing from nowhere) alongside an inspired 70 second “interval”.
Brown also directs with Allen-Smith, keeping the pace taut, the timing spot-on and the acting played appropriately straight throughout.
As the cops, Will Maxwell gives us a grizzled Columbo-esque detective and Jake Janaway is an energetic combative inspector; the pair work seamlessly together with excellent chemistry.
The five remaining cast members multi-role to impressive effect, and all have moments to shine. Heather Mosley plays unconnected roles in the stories but manages to make the detective fall instantly in love with her in both.
Joe Makarov is a love-struck cop in story one, but flowers into an unexpectedly hirsute Agatha Christie in a charity shop dress, rampaging through Murder in a Manor and trying to transform the story into a kinky love-in. Joanna Wyllie is firstly the stressed police chief Grief, before juggling not only the murdered Lord Nat, but also his own maid and one of his surreal over-privileged kids.
Ryan Carroll gives us a stoical narrator in the first story, who is unceremoniously booted out of his role by the needy Agatha Christie and transforms into the butler Didit. And Liam Palmer gives us an outrageous range of accents and florid characterisations from manic conductor Bach N Forth to gravelly police chief Bernie Face-Off, replete with an egregious moustache which won’t stay still (not to mention also appearing as voluptuous chanteuse Mary who has similar problems with her blonde wig).
This is an excellent troupe of players who attack their shows with zest, and this style of comedy fits them like a glove. It’s a shame this show was only performed for one night, it deserves a much wider audience. More please!
Who Bloody Dunnit? was performed at the Mission Theatre, Bath on 2nd June.
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Reviewer: Steve Huggins
