Review by Paul Towers, 11/9/23
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, adapted by Leslie Darbon
Directed by John bale
Produced by Leicester Drama Society
At The Little Theatre 11 - 16 September 2023
“a cosy country weekend turns nasty”
A Murder is Announced is a staple of amateur theatre groups largely because it has a relatively large cast of 13 and is staged on a single set. Agatha Christie wrote detective thriller books which translated easily to the stage and have remained popular ever since their first publication over 100 years ago.
The plot of this drawing room mystery revolves around a complicated chain of inheritances sparked by a murder committed, as predicted by a newspaper announcement, of a stranger on Friday 13th.
Director John Bale has brought out the comic possibilities of the script with star turns by Liz Kavanagh as dozy Dora Bunner (Bunny), companion to Letitia Blacklock (Alexandra Elliot), the lady of the house and Diana Gatenby Davies as Mitzi the Eastern European maid forever screaming with paranoid outrage.
A cosy country weekend turns nasty when a strange man is shot during a blackout. The arrival of both Miss Marple (Jane Towers) and Inspector Craddock (Michael King) eventually leads to the unravelling of this typical Christie murder mystery.
A marvellous set by Jacob Martin whisks us back to post war Chipping Cleghorn (probably somewhere in the Cotswolds) as a backdrop for the cast to toss around the machinations of the evening.
If you like your theatre to be thrilling and funny then pop down to The Little Theatre this week and see if you can work out whodunnit!
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