It’s a mystery that begins with a menacing advertisement placed in the local gazette and ends with chocolate cake, handcuffs, and at least one untimely death.
Howick Little Theatre’s riveting production of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery A Murder is Announced is directed by Matthew Cousins and plays until July 29.
The mystery stars the famous fictional amateur sleuth Jane Marple and is adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon.
It’s the first ‘Miss Marple’ play the theatre has staged.
Christie, known as the ‘Queen of Crime’, wrote multi-layered stories that frequently featured characters who were pretending to be people they were not.
A Murder is Announced is in keeping with that practice and as such audience members need to have their wits about them to keep pace with the complex plot.
The action takes place in the living room of a house owned by Letitia Blacklock, played with pizzazz by Carleena Walsh, in the quaint post-World War II town of Chipping Cleghorn in the UK.
With Blacklock is her companion Dora ‘Bunny’ Bunner, played by Jo Crichton, and bickering niece and nephew Julia and Patrick Simmons, played by Emily Briggs and James Calverley.
On hand also are Blacklock’s moody Hungarian maid Mitzi, played with hilarity by Lisa Inman, and mother and son Mrs Swettenham and Edmund Swettenham, played by Viktoria Jowers-Wilding and John Edwards.
Young widow Phillipa Haymes, played by Shelby Sparks, is Blacklock’s guest, while the sweet and inquisitive Miss Marple, played by Stephanie Liebert, is around as she’s staying at a nearby spa hotel for treatment.
Their mundane morning is derailed when Bunny reads an advertisement in the local gazette announcing the murder of an unidentified victim is set to take place in Blacklock’s home at 6pm that very day, October 13.
With rising tension, they debate who the victim of the forthcoming murder may be as well as who could be the killer.
When 6pm arrives and the lights go out, the murderous act is carried out.
The ghastly crime draws to the scene the characters of Inspector Craddock, played by Barrie Graham, and Sergeant Mellors, played by Stephen Moratti, who are tasked with the investigation.
As Craddock sets about questioning each witness to the crime, he discovers several of them have a prior connection to the alleged killer, and some possess secrets they had good reason to conceal.
While Craddock asks direct questions and expects straight answers in return, Miss Marple uses her charm and seeming innocence to probe further into each suspect’s motives.
This is a play with numerous and unexpected twists and turns and it will have audience members trying to stay two steps ahead as they attempt to keep up with the mercurial Miss Marple.
- A Murder is Announced
Directed by Matthew Cousins
Howick Little Theatre, 1 Sir Lloyd Drive, Pakuranga
Season: Until July 29, with shows at 8pm and a 2pm matinee on July 16.
www.hlt.org.nz
