Water Lane Theatre Company to perform Murdered to Death at South Mill Arts from March 23 to 25
Water Lane Theatre Company, which has staged classic Agatha Christie murder mysteries for its last two spring shows at South Mill Arts, continues in the same vein for its 2023 production – but turns the genre on its head with a send-up.
After Murder on the Nile in 2019 and last year's And Then There Were None, which was postponed for two years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is performing Peter Gordon's Murdered to Death, the first in the Inspector Pratt trilogy of spoofs of the whodunnit genre.
Set in the drawing room of country manor house Bagshot House in the 1930s, the play introduces the inept and bungling Insp George Algernon Pratt, who battles against his own incompetence to solve the murder of the moderately wealthy owner.
It soon becomes clear that the murderer isn’t finished yet: it’s just a question of who, when and why – and whether the police will survive long enough to work it out. Will the miscreant be unmasked before everyone else has met their doom? Or will the audience die laughing first?
The houseful of guests includes Miss Maple (not to be confused with anyone else), a dodgy-looking butler and a colonel with the stiffest of upper lips. Someone is getting murdered (very possibly more than one person).
Award-winning Water Lane, the oldest theatre group in Stortford, has been turning out high-quality amateur productions for 90 years. It is still attracting newbies to take to the stage – and there are two new faces for Murdered to Death.
Bluebell Baughan plays Dorothy, the very sensible niece of Bagshot House owner Mildred. At college, Bluebell completed a performing arts degree. She studied most elements of a stage production and says she feels most comfortable performing or helping out with costumes.
She graduated with a masters in drama therapy, the use of theatre techniques to promote mental health and to facilitate personal growth. It is used in hospitals, schools, mental health centres, prisons and businesses.
"My education was in pursuit of a career as a drama therapist," said Bluebell, who has been practising in the NHS, treating traumatised children. "I wished to combine my love of drama with my passion to help others.
"I joined Water Lane in the hope it may support my overall wellbeing and provide an opportunity for me to spend time with like-minded people."
Sara-Jane "SJ" Pyne plays the feisty Mildred. She has no previous acting experience, but as a primary school teacher she often has to act out roles to bring learning to life for her pupils.
"One minute I'm Emmeline Pankhurst and the next a Roman centurion," she said. "I'd always wanted to join a theatre group, and now that my children are teenagers with their own hobbies and interests, I thought it would be a good time."
The cast of 10 – six women and four men – is completed by Doug Sheppard as Bunting the pedantic and creepy butler, Andy Roberts as the blustering Colonel Charles Craddock, Amanda Green as Charles' long-suffering, acerbic wife Margaret, Sally Fenton as shady art dealer Pierre Marceau, Corrina Graham-Hodson as attractive socialite Elizabeth Hartley-Trumpington, Penny Reeves as amateur sleuth Joan Maple, John Bell as Insp Pratt and Greg Hill as bright, young village bobby Constable Thompkins.
* Murdered to Death is being performed at South Mills Arts at 7.30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, March 23-25, with a Saturday matinee at 3pm. Tickets cost £17.50 (concessions £15.50) for the evening shows and £15.50 for the matinee from the SMA box office on 01279 719200 (Mon-Sat 12pm-4pm) or online at www.southmillarts.co.uk.
