Degrees of Error are back with an audience Fringe favourite, Murder She Didn’t Write, as audiences form the whodunnit narrative that the talented cast have to perform live on stage…fully improvised!
With the hilariously quick-witted cast, it was hard not to laugh out loud through the entire show at their portrayals of Detective “Crustie” (Lizzy Skrzypiec), Marigold (Rachael Procter-Lane) and Vince Violet (Stephen Clements), Vladimir Green (Peter Baker), Barry Blue (Harry Allmark), and Roger Red (Emile Clarke).
Set in 1933, our unique performance included audience suggestions of a Masterchef finals event, and an exploding “perfectly normal pipe-made of clay” as the murder weapon. The show held a perfect balance between the improvisation and audience participation, with us having to make the final guess of who the murderer is in the “final denouement.” Ironically, the murderer themself has been carefully selected by assistant detective Jenkins who was randomly selected via a hat thrown into the audience, and who also had to keep the secret of the murderer selection to themself.
The technical team were fantastic through their own sense of improvising the lighting and sound effects, with the cast cleverly assisted by live improvised piano for audiences to gain a true “murder mystery” sense of the tale. The cast also show off their improvisation skills in their small, quick alterations of the set design, in order for audiences to easily imagine the different rooms separating the characters.
I adored Skrzypiec’s suave ability as Detective Crustie, to make scenes even more chaotic than they already are. Procter-Lane and Baker’s improvisation and comedic timing was something to behold, as everything they did in their character form had the audience in howls of laughter. The cast’s spontaneous theatrical performances seamlessly blended both adult and family-friendly humour, in their mentions of the victim’s “face has been blown off… and it wasn’t a sex thing” and an astounding amount of cracking egg (“and beetroot”) puns – and that’s no yolk! It goes to show the team have a clear understanding of who their audience consisted of, as when my eyes darted about the room, no matter the age, every person was rightfully in a fit of giggles.
As every show is different from the other due to the improvised narrative, this may just mean I’ll have to pay another visit to Murder, She Didn’t Write, but this time, I’ll be sure to get my “finger of suspicion” at the ready to correctly guess the murderer!
Murder, She Didn’t Write is running until 31 August at Gordon Aikman Theatre at Assembly George Square. Buy tickets here.
Image provided by Pamela Raith for press use.
