Secondary Cause of Death: Review of Water Lane Theatre Company’s production of Peter Gordon’s murder mystery comedy at South Mill Arts
Secondary Cause of Death is the second play in a trilogy by Peter Gordon based on the misadventures of Inspector Pratt (Pratt by name and prat by nature). The play is set in 1939, with the threat of war hanging over Europe, writes Charlotte Pritchard.
We find ourselves in the library of Bagshot House, owned by Colonel Charles Craddock, now converted to a hotel aimed at the discerning visitor. A selection of intriguing characters gather for a murder mystery evening, each with their own hidden agenda which becomes apparent as the play progresses. Inspector Pratt arrives with some grim news for the Colonel and from that point on the body count starts to rack up pretty swiftly.
I had not been able to see Water Lane Theatre Company’s 2023 production of Murdered to Death, but as it turned out I didn’t need to, as it was easy to pick up the threads of what had happened in the first part of the trilogy and still understand the plot for this one.
First impressions were immediately favourable as I was met with a really fabulous set, which Water Lane designed and constructed themselves. This is something the company always do extremely well for their productions and this set was no exception, with full attention paid to all the period details.
Costumes were also spot on and of the period, hairstyles were accurate and props used to full effect. Director and set designer Granville Rush, Anne Styles (wardrobe), Becky Roberts and Greg Hill (stage management and props) deserve full applause for getting these aspects of the production right.
John Bell, sporting an impressive (and real) moustache, played the bumbling Pratt with great comic timing and physicality, throwing himself around the set with gusto. I particularly enjoyed the way he handled Pratt’s misuse of the English language (“brain haemorrhoids” stuck with me long afterwards), with the jokes coming thick and fast – it was in fact hard at times to keep up with all the one-liners and malapropisms thrown in the audience’s direction.
Richard Pink as Count Puchlik revelled in his role as a Polish count with hidden Nazi tendencies and I enjoyed his nod to John Cleese and the Ministry of Silly Walks with his goose stepping.
New member Laura Martin made an impressive debut with her brilliant characterisation of ‘jolly hockey sticks’ Capt Henrietta Woolmer-Cardington, and the lisp she adopted and gamely kept up throughout gave her one of the biggest laugh-out-loud moments of the play.
Colonel Craddock and (spoiler alert) Cardew Longfellow were really well played by Andy Roberts, who made full use of facial expressions and physical comedy with his elaborate death scene – it was very funny and had the audience in stitches.
It soon became apparent that the hearty colonel was not the only character to have a hidden identity as versatile actress Rachel Leung effortlessly slipped from playing country house cook Lily Tuthill, complete with yokel accent, to a steely government agent straight out of MI5 (bringing to mind Judi Dench as M in the James Bond films).
Penny Reeves as Cynthia Maple, Corinna Graham-Hodson as Nurse Anne Parsley, Amanda Green as Martha Armstrong and SJ Pyne as Lady Isadora Pollock were all really strong in their roles and I thoroughly enjoyed the fun they brought to the play. It was clear they had all worked hard on bringing their individual characters to life and all had great comic timing.
Penny Reeves usually works backstage, but she did a great job with her portrayal of the Miss Marple character – she should definitely be more ‘on stage’ from now on.
This play is a great, good old-fashioned farce with humour which might not be considered by some to be that modern nowadays, but I thoroughly enjoyed the silliness of it all and just being able to sit back and have a good laugh – it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The audience around me certainly agreed and left the auditorium with smiles on their faces and saying how much they had enjoyed it.
Granville Rush should be rightly proud of this production, which was delivered with great skill by both cast and crew.
I look forward to Water Lane’s next production, although we were left wondering if they are going to complete the trilogy. I guess we will have to watch this space!
Charlotte Pritchard
