It’s not every day that one’s dining room turns into a stage, but mine did last night!
Sixteen of us gathered to tackle Linda Messham’s latest Murder Mystery play – “Just a Checkup”. The best one so far, we agreed afterwards.
There were 10 acting parts in the play, so there was room for an enthusiastic audience too, which really does add to the atmosphere.
This is the fourth one we have done, each time opting to act rather than just read the parts. It is much more fun when there are characters sitting at a ‘desk’ answering a phone, tapping on a laptop keyboard, juggling mobile phone, warrant card and script, backing sheepishly off stage when they suddenly realise their character is not supposed to be there yet….. and generally getting into the roles of the individuals they are pretending to be.
Everyone rose enthusiastically to the challenge, with hats off to Jan for taking on the glass-half-full, pessimistic Jill, some of whose well-timed gloomy interjections were very funny, prompting many light-hearted moments and bursts of laughter from everyone.
The instructions suggest taking a refreshment break before the last short act, which works well, giving time to do a bit of sleuthing and try to fathom who the culprit is. Much earnest chat and discussion supplied a few possible solutions, but when the reveal came it was not entirely what we suspected.
Apparently, Jane did it. Who knew?!?
Thank you to Linda Messham for another brilliant, well-designed murder mystery. They are perfect for an NWR gathering, and we would heartily recommend other groups have a go if given the chance.
If you want to investigate, go to ‘Planning Your Group’s Activities’ and click on ‘Hire a Play’, which will download a document with all the information you need.
