Following on the success of Blithe Spirit came Murder in Play, the hidden-gem comedy whodunit from company supporter Simon Brett the author of the Charles Paris novels and BBC R4 series. The play sees an inept theatre company rehearsing a creaky old murder-mystery. It’s a comic catastrophe - until a real murder adds genuine mystery, and enough red herrings between the laughs kept our audiences guessing right to the end. A modern-day comic masterclass, it was directed by Owen Calvert-Lyons, previous Head of Theatre at Oval House, London now Artistic Director at The Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds.
We used the monolithic flats of Blithe as framing, eventually revealing the smaller box-set of Murder in Play sitting within it as a classic budget touring-set – part of Simon’s wonderful, satirical take on theatre-land. Great fun!
