Murder by the book

‘Murder by the book’ by Duncan Greenwood and Robert King, is the latest production from Stirling Players Inc and is directed by Philip Fryer. It is showing at Stirling Theatre, Innaloo each evening at 8.00 until 8^th December.

Selwyn Piper (Phil Lord) is a thriller writer and book reviewer. He researches his books well and is happy to demolish any author that he reviews or sees as a competition. His demure secretary, Christine (Elizabeth Jansen) puts up with his ranting, helps him keep up with his appointments efficiently and to advise on his private life.

Selwyn’s wife Imogen (Suzanne Devenish), who appears to have had more sexual experience than an alley cat, wishes to have a divorce so that she can settle down with her new partner. This divorce has been refused by Selwyn on several occasions, so she decides to murder her husband, and thus gain freedom and the insurance money. After the dastardly deed, as she is leaving his flat, she runs into Christine (whom she has never met) mutters something in Scottish (or was it Turkish?) before disappearing into the night. The noise of the gun shots brings in neighbour, Peter Fletcher (Nicholas Britton) from his next-door flat.

The secretary and neighbour are at odds as to what to do with the body, when Selwyn’s publisher, John Douglas (Philip Fryer) turns up on the scene to complicate things even further.

This is really good detective play with plenty of red herrings and twists. Because of the complexity of the script and the necessity to have a lucid delivery, this type of play should have the highest quality direction and acting. Whilst this team would have been most satisfactory with the standard Agatha Christie, I felt that this script was just beyond them. The acting warm up was initially a little slow, but the pace quckly picked up.

Wonderful back drop, good sound and lighting. The programme section ‘Introduction’ was far too revealing in its content, luckily I didn’t read this until I was at home. Definitely don’t read before the curtain up.

The audience needs to remain alert to get the full quality of this production. It was enjoyable, different and a great challenge to the average amateur sleuth.