Francesca Moody Productions Presents KATHY AND STELLA SOLVE A MURDER! World Premiere

Francesca Moody Productions Presents KATHY AND STELLA SOLVE A MURDER! World Premiere. A hilarious murder mystery musical from the multi award-winning creators behind Fleabag, Baby Reindeer, A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) and Frisky and Mannish

Created by Jon Brittain (Olivier Award winner, Rotterdam, Fringe First and Olivier Award winner, Baby Reindeer) and Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky and Mannish). Roundabout @ Summerhall, 3 - 28 August 2022 (not 4, 9, 16 or 23), 21:50 (23:00), 12+

Murder obsessed BFFs Kathy and Stella host Hull's least successful true-crime podcast. When their favourite author is killed, they are thrust into a thrilling whodunnit of their own! Can they crack the case (and become global podcast superstars) before the killer strikes again...?

This laugh-out-loud musical reunites the writing and musical talents of Jon Brittain and Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky and Mannish) who last collaborated on the critically acclaimed, Fringe First award-winning A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad). Jon Brittain and Francesca Moody also team up again following double award wins (Fringe First 2019, Olivier Award 2020) for Richard Gadd's Baby Reindeer. The creative team's individual successes include Rotterdam, Fleabag and Edinburgh Fringe smash-hits Square Go, Angry Alan, Frisky and Mannish and Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho.

Jon Brittain and Matthew Floyd Jones said of Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder: "During the first lockdown we started a musicals club where we did synchronised watches of everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Legally Blonde. At the same time we were bingeing every true crime documentary and podcast the internet had to offer. It wasn't long before we decided to mash up our lockdown hobbies - and Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder was born! A heart-warming musical about a cold-blooded killing. Serial or Making a Murder er by way of Victoria Wood, Hairspray and Scooby Doo. It's a story about true crime, the influence storytellers can have on the stories they're telling, and most of all it's about two misfit best friends, the world's least likely detectives, who set out to find a killer... and along the way find themselves."

Francesca Moody of Francesca Moody Productions said: "I'm thrilled to be collaborating with the brilliant Jon and Matthew on FMP's first ever musical. Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder is going to be a joyful, funny, irreverent and above all entertaining show, which, after the last two years of the pandemic is exactly what I think we all need - a chance for people to come back together and laugh. And where better to do it than our spiritual home, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I can't wait for FMP to return with live shows to Edinburgh after a two-year hiatus. Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder will be late-night entertainment that has real bite and I so excited to share it with audiences."

Francesca Moody Productions are also presenting Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen at the Paines Plough's Roundabout @ Summerhall from 3 until 28 August 2022 (not 4, 9, 16, 23) at 18:50 (19:50).

Jon Brittain (Book and Lyrics)

Jon Brittain is a playwright, comedy writer and director.

His critically acclaimed play Rotterdam won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre in 2017, he went on to direct Richard Gadd's debut play Baby Reindeer, which won the same award in 2020.

His other work includes the cult hit shows Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho and Margaret Thatcher Queen of Game Shows, the Fringe First Award-winning A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad), and the UK Theatre Award-winning Billionaire Boy: The Musical.

He directed both of John Kearns's Fosters Award winning shows Sight Gags for Perverts and Shtick as well as shows for Tom Allen, Mat Ewins, Tom Rosenthal and others.

He co-wrote a dozen episodes of Cartoon Network's The Amazing World of Gumball and was a staff writer on seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown.

Matthew Floyd Jones (Music and Lyrics)

He is known as one half of comedy duo Frisky & Mannish, the "undisputed hit of the Edinburgh Fringe" (Herald) and "global phenomenon" (Times). Finalists for the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year prize in 2010, their appearances have included solo gigs at Shepherd's Bush Empire and Sydney Opera House, headlining in the West End, multiple UK tours, dozens of international festivals, several performances on BBC Radio 1, and a featured slot on BBC2's The Culture Show.

His solo show Richard Carpenter is Close to You won the Buxton Fringe New Writing Award, sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe, transferred to London, and toured to Australia. He composed the score for Jon Brittain's Fringe First Award-winning play A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad). Other composing/arranging work includes 2012: An Olympic Vaudeville (Greenwich Theatre), and several immersive events for the Gingerline Group.

He has musically directed work for the Young Vic, CAST Doncaster, Jermyn St Theatre and the Oxford Playhouse. His acting credits include Miss Nightingale (Hippodrome), Camera Lucida (Barbican), Heels of Glory (Chelsea Theatre), Punch (Underbelly), The Secret Garden (King's Head) and Oklahoma! (Sadler's Wells).

Book and Lyrics by Jon Brittain

Directed by Jon Brittain

Music and Lyrics by Matthew Floyd Jones

Design by Cecilia Carey

Lighting by Peter Small

Associate Lighting by Bethany Gupwell

Sound by Tingying Dong

Dramaturgy by Gillian Greer

Produced by Francesca Moody Productions

Performed by TBC