Review: LOCOMOTIVE FOR MURDER, Liverpool Theatre Festival

Take five talented improv performers, a murder mystery story and combine that with a plot line based on audience suggestions. What do you get? You get a slick, superb theatre show called Locomotive for Murder: The Improvised Whodunnit.

Once again the award-winning Liverpool Theatre Festival have delivered a brilliant mix of productions - including Pinch Punch’s Locomotive for Murder.

Locomotive for Murder visited the Liverpool Theatre Festival ahead of its highly anticipated run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Yet despite touring to venues across the UK this year, no two shows are the same - making each performance a unique experience for the audience.

Yes, the premise of the story is largely the same. Four characters step onto a train bound for a holiday destination, before one is killed and detective Miss Marble must work out which passenger was the culprit - along with some help from the audience. Yet the characters we meet, their backstories, links to one another and the destination of their train are all determined by the audience each evening.

As such, the characters in each show and the stories interwoven into the plot are completely different. Lottie Davies, who delivers an energetic and engaging performance as Miss Marble, opens the show by asking the audience a series of questions such as ‘What item would you want to have on a desert island?’. Using the audience answers, the talented improv group cleverly create characters on the spot that are based on the answers.

It is a genuine thrill to see the group think quickly on the spot and choose props and costumes to create characters that did not exist moments ago. Whether it is a Scout Leader called William Waddell (based on a an audience member’s story that they used to be the scouts) or a seamstress called Carla Curtains (when one audience member spoke about their own career as a sewing machinist), this reviewer was left in awe of the talent of the improv group to create these new characters that we grew to know in just a few minutes. 

Although gathering character suggestions from the audience meant that the production was slow to start, it quickly gathered pace and was an entertaining and engaging watch from start to finish. Pinch Punch showcased the excellent improv skills that have had audiences coming back for more.

Using just props and costumes, including four stools on the otherwise empty stage, the group used their improvisation skills to paint the world that audiences were stepping into.

After asking the audience why the train stopped (the suggestion was a snow drift blocking the tracks), Lottie Davies’ Miss Marble elaborated and said it was a snow drift in the shape of a Toblerone chocolate bar to set the scene, before the cast (including David Fenne, Peter Rugman, Beth Lilly and Will Beynon) began to comment on how they were feeling being stuck in that situation. Immediately the audience knew where the scene was set and each character’s personality traits, showcasing the group’s ability to utilise an audience suggestion and implement it into a story to engaging and excellent effect. Each performer gave an enjoyable performance that made the audience feel that we knew the characters from the moment the show began. 

The cast also impressively kept track of every single audience suggestion and managed to make the continuity in the story seamless. Particularly, Will Beynon as a musician in a marching band and David Fenne as the Scoutmaster referenced clues found at the crime scene by Miss Marble and interwove them into their flashback scenes with Peter Rugman’s sweet Lord Percival, while Beth Lilly referenced a moment when Carol Curtains dropped a sewing needle earlier in the story in her flashback scene. Not only did this help with the continuity, but also made it harder for the audience to guess whodunnit - adding intrigue and mystery to the story.

This one hour improvised comedy drama was a delight to watch and one this reviewer would highly recommend anyone to go and see. If you are watching Locomotive for Murder at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer, you are in for an absolute treat. 

The Liverpool Theatre Festival continues until 30 July

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