Review: Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit at The Pleasure Garden
Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit at The Hat Trick at The Pleasure Garden
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Put the Poirot down! There’s a new murder mystery in town, and this killer… is based on audience participation?
Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit returns to Fringe for another hilariously cold-blooded installment. After a successful sell-out run of shows in 2024, the gang is back. Taking the all-too-familiar murder formula and adding an array of unscripted twists and turns, with audience suggestions all the way down to what weapon the killer used, Murder Village lends itself to a triumphant show and a unique experience every time.
Helmed by the brilliant and improvisational minds of David Massingham and Amberly Cull, as detective and amateur sleuth respectively, the hour-long show gives all the tools and then pushes you down a rabbit hole of a 1950s Agatha Christie murder mystery starring a biscuit-crazed nun, an Irish entrepreneur, a ghost-hunting medium, and a librarian with a very distinguished vocabulary.
With minimal production and set design, it comes down to the skills of the performers in their fitting ye olde little village attire to portray their characters accordingly. Miss Marmalade has a particularly dashing display with her tweed jacket and festively fruity bonnet, adding a bit of whimsy to her nosy old neighbour character, where she is as clueless as the audience to what on earth is unfolding.
The energetically suspicious medium Lazlo manages to steal the show with his quick wit and hilariously over-the-top performance, improvising such iconic moments as a pocket Ouija board that claimed he was a conventionally handsome man and a very off-the-cuff quiche gag. The acting is dramatic, the accents are outrageous, and it all plays in its favour to captivate you through to the end.
The highlight is the soundtrack. Equipped with nothing but a keyboard to score each scene, the pianist creates suspense building on the drama until it crashes in downright hilarity right on cue, giving you reason to laugh in moments where the ad-libbing may otherwise miss a beat.
This is a thrilling and hilarious performance that builds on a combination of lighting, music, and the talents of the quick-witted cast. With no script, each showing is truly a unique and gratifying experience. This performance gets a “pip pip.”
Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit pitches its grave in Perth for select dates until the 16th of February. See if you can sleuth out the murderer…
SAM MEAD