Murder She Didn't Write

The Dutchess Theatre

An improvised murder mystery where the audience takes the reins. It's just a bit of fun, and the actors have great improvisation skills. Wild ideas are the barrier to quality.

You can't help but appreciate an actor's improvisation skills when they give the audience the power of decision. The quality of the show is not in their control. But, is this the recipe for a great show or the recipe for a good experience? Of course, a great show is a good experience, but you can also see a show that doesn't meet the best standards, but it's still a good time. The creatives have created a good basis, but this does drag out, and if ideas are too out there, then it's hard to immerse yourself in the show.

A hat is thrown into the audience, and one person decides which ideas are to carry the storyline. In this performance, the murder weapon the audience produced was a scale model of the Titanic made out of cake... How the cast manages to create a piece focusing on the choices the audience makes is brilliant. It's a real-life board game, and if you love a bit of improvised, interactive theatre, then this is a good choice! Who did it? You decide.

Each cast member deserves appreciation for the characters they create on the spot. They clearly enjoy working together to create the story for the audience and joking with each other about the ideas they create for their characters. Stephen Clements played the investigator for this performance; his character is very animated, has some interesting and authentic mannerisms. He has control over how the story is told and grasps the audience as soon as he walks on the stage. Even during the moments when he is running through the audience, he keeps everyone entertained. He's interesting to watch. The show would be more amusing if the actors didn't break character to laugh at the ideas they have spontaneously crafted. When they break character a couple of times to react to what they are told to do, it is funny, but when this happens often, the humour of these moments decreases. The commitment to the characters and what they do is where the best comedy is. One of the most comic moments of the show was when the characters were displaying their reasons for how they could be the murderer. These were the moments that they fully committed to the chaos and the wild things they did; they did them seriously. The moments they don't step out of character are the most successful moments.

Whilst the creators have made a great recipe for how they attack each idea to create the plot, the content does drag and creating the context at times is not relevant to the story. At times, the cast get lost in the content they are creating, whilst this is fun, there are times when you wonder when they will get to the murder. The set creates the idea of when the story is set, and one of the most interesting pieces of set is the window that lights up when the character who is murdered is revealed. This moment feels like a board game moment! As the murder is down to what the audience decides, each prop is imaginary, so the audience needs to have their imaginative caps switched on. At times, these moments can be disengaging because the ideas are so far-fetched that it can be hard to imagine and difficult for the actors to create. However, the cast does a grand job of making the set they have relevant to the story and uses what they have to create the atmosphere of the piece.

This is a great example of daring theatre and great improvisation skills. The downside of the piece is how much control the audience has in coming up with the ideas; they can be very outlandish, and giving them multiple choices would work just as well. The quality of the show and opinion would be different for each performance, because each would be completely different! It would benefit from not having such a long recap and explanation of each character at the end. At first, this builds tension, but it's so long that it loses the tension. It would be stronger if the show was shorter. Also, thinking of another way to get the audience member to answer the question so the answer is not accidentally revealed to the audience. I ended up seeing who the murderer was without trying, and this disengaged me from the reveal. This is a great experience for a bit of fun, and it is unique. I'd be intrigued to watch this again to see what I would think with a different plot. If you love a bit of improvised theatre, this is a good one!