Murder Mystery at White Rock theatre

The Moneypenny Productions' Murder Mystery aboard The SS Biggins provided thrills and laughs galore.

A superb cast interacted superbly with an appreciative audience of would-be detectives, setting the task of discovering who killed camp head waiter Pierre Quaff, by what means and with what motive.

Lawrence Brown, showing great comedy timing, hammed it up in panto style as the victim who provided various clues by reliving scenes prior to his death.

We were also introduced to three outrageous suspects by Matt Watts, playing hostile head chef Brian Rattigan, Tori Temple-Morris, as shady restaurant owner Sheila Payne, and Katy Pye, as off hand waitress Gloria Knowles.

All had motives and the opportunity to kill Pierre, whose body was found with a large wound in the back and a metal object in the stomach, according to an early autopsy report.

As Lawrence Brown told me: "We don't set out to present a Hercule Poirot thriller '“ we focus on providing a fun evening. We put on about 150 murder mystery evenings a year, with more than 10 different scripts."

The cast could so easily have lost all credibility in playing it for laughs, but they got the mix just right. And some clever improvisation and adlibbing had the audience in hysterics.

It was great value for money at 36 per 'detective', and I recommend that you try to solve the next murder mystery at the White Rock.

Review written by Tony Flood