Review: AN ABSOLUTE FARCE OF A MURDER MYSTERY, The Drayton Arms Theatre

From the very start, when a butler and a lawyer bicker about who gets to be the narrator, one feels a sense of dread for the meta-theatrical contrivances you just know will be coming soon. That inward mood darkens when the usual stereotypes step forward to get the exposition over and done with - there's quite the Knives Out vibe in the air. "Really? Again?" I found myself whispering under my breath.

But the charm of Peter Rae's script, the pace of Helen Bang's direction and the willingness of the cast to go just far enough over the top, soon won me over and, once I bought in (as one must for any comedy), a lovely evening was my reward.

The plot need not detain us long: a murder that isn't quite what it seems; a murderer who isn't quite what they seem; a pleasing dotting of the 'i's and crossing of the 't's on the considerable number of contrivances; and the whole thing done in an unsprawling 90 minutes or so. Bravo!

The fun is in the ensemble cast's performances, which are uniformly clever and spirited. I particularly enjoyed Toby Wynn Davies channeling The Simpsons' Mr Burns as The Monstrous Patriarch of Garbadale Manor' (though he does have a scene which was both unnecessary and proved the only misstep in the show). Duncan Wilkins has a lot of fun with Sir Percy, a kind of Freddie Threepwood from Hell rather than Blandings Castle. Hats off to Holly Ashman as Isabella the Maid, not bright, but not self-conscious either and adept at landing a line. A word too for Lizzie Maria Wood's costumes - splendid to behold.

Rae and Bang, husband and wife in that frightening place called real life, cheerfully admit to writing the play as something to do between other projects, but that's a good thing. There aren't many hot-button issues being addressed here, nobody is overly-concerned about their pronouns and there's even some old-school name-calling that any grown-up will take in their stride. Light comedy is very tricky to do and it's done well here - and it warrants the very decent laugh count it elicits in these grim times.

An Absolute Farce Of A Murder Mystery is at the Drayton Arms Theatre until 11 March

Photo Credit: Jakub Bachleda-Wala

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