This play should come with a warning - "No actors were harmed during this production". At least, I hope so. The audience, however, laughed until it hurt.

The play has been around for some years, enthralling audiences around the globe. In the right hands it is excruciatingly funny. In the wrong ones, it can be less than entertaining. Luckily, the Arts Club has assembled a cast of superlative comic actors and a director whose feeling for comedy is exquisite and whose timing is impeccable.

In brief, the plot involves opening night for the very enthusiastic Cornley Drama Society’s production of a 30’s murder mystery play, The Murder at Haversham Manor. Short of both talent and money, they do their best, but the result is the actor’s nightmare brought to life. Self-regarding personalities and memory-challenged players, mis-timed sound cues, spots in the wrong spot, and disappearing props, corpsing and pratfalls abound. There is probably no disaster befalling an actor through all time which is not met with, yet the play must go on. A cleverly balanced script, there are moments of calm amidst the mayhem, though it must be said that they tend to be moments of anticipation, a waiting for the next piece of chaos.

The talented Arts Club actors make bad acting look easy. Scott Bellis (Dennis) as the old family retainer, Perkins, was a lesson in minimalism and no less instructive when over the top with shock/horror. An increasingly intense Praneet Akilla (Chris) preened as the inspector (and director). Zander Eke (Max) as the charmingly campy Cecil with a penchant for leaping into the limelight doubled as a 90-year-old gardener with intermittent lumbago. Genevieve Fleming’s Sandra endures significant mistreatment as Florence Colleymore, a siren of long arms and elegant poses. Knocked out cold, her inanimate body is hauled off-stage through a window by a crew befuddled by the mechanics of the task, another masterclass in physical theatre.

Ben Elliott (Jonathan), the eponymous murderee at the Manor, rose from the dead time and again, stuck in an inspired piece of improvisation. Andrew McNee (Robert) delivered a carefully calibrated performance as Thomas, the deceased’s brother – and much more, plus a slashing duel with Cecil to stretch the imagination.

From time to time, some audience members might catch glimpses of well-known local performers and small- and big-screen actors.

Back-stage, Stage-Manager Annie (Kelli Ogmundson) sets a stellar trajectory from sullen stand-in to spot-light- hogging star. She’s a knock-out – literally. And Trevor, the completely incompetent lighting and sound manager, is played to a T by Argel Monte de Ramos.

The rest of the Stage Crew join in for energetic and super-synchronised pandemonium as they work the machinery needed to pull everything off. Because - the star performance lies with Ryan Cormack’s set, an active, malevolent presence. As detailed and complex as a symphony, everything must be in time and on time or the whole thing falls apart – Well it does, but only at the right time.

Jessica Oostergo’s costumes show off the generosity of the Cornley Drama Society’s benefactor with polished shoes and glamorous but not-quite-right touches. Sophie Tang's lighting is spot on.

.Loved the snow.

 

© 2026 Elizabeth Paterson