Review by Paul Towers, 27/10/25
A Murder Has Been Arranged, a ghost story by
Emlyn Williams
Directed by John Ghent
Produced by Leicester Drama Society
At The Little Theatre til Saturday 1st
November 2025
Just in time for Hallowe’en the ghostly
goings on in London’s St James’ theatre are enacted on the stage of Leicester’s
Little Theatre this week.
A Murder has been Arranged by Emlyn Williams
tells the story of a legend concerning a murder once committed at the St
James’s Theatre. A dumb woman (Dorota Wotjtkowska) will appear on stage to
reveal a murderer.
Sir Charles Jasper, an authority on the
occult, has chosen this theatre in which to hold a dinner party. Tonight, at
eleven o’clock, he will come into a vast fortune. Should he die before eleven, his nephew, Maurice will
inherit it. Though uninvited, Maurice arrives and a chain of events are set in
motion that culminates not only in a murder but the appearance of not one, but
two, ghosts!
First performed in 1930 in the real St James
Theatre the play does suffer from the rather stilted language of the period
and, although the first two acts bowl along quite nicely my problem is with the
third act which is too contrived. It was obviously cobbled together to tie up
all the loose ends of the plot by the playwright.
That said, the actors give it their all and
do their best with the material available on an inventive set designed by Phil
Newman.
Sir Charles’ secretary Miss Groze (Joy
Brankin-Frisby) is starched efficiency as she efficiently orders his life with
the help of cleaner Mrs Wragg (Angela Hill sounding very like Beryl Reid and
adding some much needed comedy). Hidden below the stage (mostly) is orchestra
leader Mr Cavendish (Jake Leonard), here supposedly to provide a musical
accompaniment to the meal.
A chameleon-like unexpected guest Jimmy North
(Daniel Creedon) may or may not be the dreaded long lost cousin of Sir Charles
(Andrew Webster) come to claim his inheritance.
To add hysterical drama to the evening Sir
Charles’ wife, Beatrice (Charlotte Brown) and her mother (Nadine Hossent) stoke
up the ghostly paranoia.
But it is the arrival of the dastardly real
long lost relative Maurice Mullins (Paul Large sounding a lot like Leonard
Rossiter) that causes murder to ensue.
The spooky goings on at The Little Theatre
will continue until Saturday 1st November.
Pic: Poyner & Mee
https://thelittletheatre.co.uk/
https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/
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