Murder Deferred

‘Murder deferred’ by Stuart Ready, is a who-dunnit presented by the Stirling Players at Morris Place in Innaloo under the direction of Carole Wilson, Each evening at 8.00pm until 28^th July.

The action takes place in Mrs Markham (Karin Staflund), the landlady’s sitting room, at the rear of a busy old traditional, English thatched pub. Mrs Markham is chatting to her best friend Mrs Akers (Janet Brandwood) and the local JP (Philip Vile). The bar-lady (Christine Ellis) comes in to say that a stranger to the village is asking for the best brandy and is chatting to Brian the barman. Just as the friends are leaving this mystifying woman (Sharon Borley) peeps through the French windows, then disappears into the night.

Mrs Markham asks Clancy, the barman (Ian Wilson) what she had been talking about, but got a mouthful of abuse in return. A little later the mysterious woman, from a rough area of London, enters the sitting room uninvited and starts asking intrusive questions of Mrs Markham. She seems to know a great deal about the pub owner and apparently has a controlling power over her.

A murder takes place in the room, and things go from bad to worse as the landlady sinks deeper into the mire.

This is a great little story, full of ‘whys?’ and ‘whos?’

The set is superb, quality ‘noises off’ and the lighting well thought out. Often when there is a set with French doors, the painted backdrop view outside gets the door’s shadow falling onto the scenery. Here, there was a good attempt at a sunset, however the amount of light was underestimated.

Karin and Sharon were brilliant. They captured their characters perfectly and gave powerful and convincing performances. Unfortunately many of the other cast members seemed petrified, They were clear and generally word-perfect, but had trouble actually communicating convincingly with each other.

The overall show was most enjoyable, with a first-rate and unusual story.