An Absolute Farce of a Murder Mystery ★★★
The Drayton Arms Theatre, London
For those of you looking for theatre that does what it says on the tin, there is currently an obvious choice having its world premiere at the Drayton Arms Theatre. An Absolute Farce of a Murder Mystery delivers a spirited farce, a whodunit (or maybe, spoiler alert, a wasitdun?), and a slice of ghost story. And just to make it clear that Peter Rae, the writer and one of the main characters, knows the rules that a whodunit farce is supposed to follow he breaks the fourth wall a few times with some meta-commentary on the tropes of this genre.
The characters are easily recognizable. There is Isabella, the Maid with a mysterious past (Holly Ashman). Manning, the Butler with a secret (Christian Ballantyne). Lady Susan Bloom, the eccentric psychic (Helen Bang, also Director). Lady Honoria, the overwrought and unwed daughter (Rosalind Blessed). Lord Sebastian Hardcastle, the Rake (Peter Rae). Sir Percy, the drunken prodigal son (Duncan Wilkins) and the poisonous patriarch (Toby Wynn Davies). They barely need an introduction.
The play starts with a scream and a body, of course, which starts an investigation into the characters’ means, motives and opportunities for murder. During this process, it transpires that each of them has a secret, undeclared love for another character. As required by the rules of farce they each decide to reveal their love in an unsigned letter, all sent via a single confused and decidedly incompetent emissary. Chaos ensues.
The first half of the first act has trouble taking off. Characters that are instantly recognizable are given unnecessarily laborious introductions at the expense of landing the jokes. However, the excellent casting kicks in and so do the comic set pieces. When Lady Susan dives into a seance that seems like she is either having trouble connecting to her internet dial-up or has broken the dial on her wireless the laughs start to flow more easily. Each of the actors enthusiastically gobbles up their character, with particular credit to the delightful battiness of Bloom and Blessed. Farce, bordering on pantomime, keeps up the pace nicely with the meta elements guiding the audience through the increasingly opaque plot. After the awkward beginning the energy kicks in, the one-liners land their punches and the audience warms to the succulent performances.
Review by ANDREW HEBDENQueerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day.
Labels: ‘An Absolute Farce of a Murder Mystery’, 2023, Andrew Hebden, Drayton Arms, Helen Bang, London, Peter Rae, review, Rosalind Blessed
