The Grange Players
Present:
Write Me A Murder
By Frederick Knott
November 18th - 28th 2015
Write Me A Murder was first performed at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway in 1961 and ran for 196 performances.
It is a mystery play written by Frederick Knott who is best known for his play ‘Dial M for Murder’ which also became a television series and Hollywood movie. Unfortunately Write Me A Murder doesn’t have the same intensity but it is still a thoroughly enjoyable story.
The play revolves around the Rodingham’s Manor. We meet brothers Clive (Joseph Hicklin) and David (Aarron Armstrong-Craddock) who are at the Manor to say their final farewell to their Father who is dying. Once he passes, Clive, who is the oldest son inherits the Manor and all of the land attached to it. He has no interest in the 500 year family history and in no time at all has sold the estate to Charles Sturrock (Andy Jones), a sly business man who grew up in the area and secretly intends to buy up all of the land in the area as he has heard about the building of a motorway that will go to London. He believes that he can make a fortune with redevelopment and by turning the Manor into a private club. Clive leaves the country to marry an American millionairess, leaving David to help the Sturrock’s with their move.
We also meet Julie Sturrock (Millie Farrelly), Charles’ wife who is an aspiring writer. Her husband enlists the help of David, a published writer to help his wife write a mystery story for a newspaper competition and slowly a ‘fool proof’ murder story is planned!
Does the story get entered into the competition or does the story come to life? You will have to go along to find out!!
This is Sister’s Suzy Donnelly and Louise Farmer’s directorial debut at The Grange Playhouse and they have put on a well rounded production. There are many scene changes during this production which is a challenge for any director and they managed to keep them short and sweet. Most of them were broken up with telephone conversations over the sound system between characters. The constant closing of the tabs during these changes was a little distracting and may have been better just carried out with dimmed lighting but overall it was handled well.
Joseph Hicklin brought a great air of upper class pomp to his portrayal of Clive Rodingham and even when he was down on his luck he believed himself superior to others and tried to take over every situation.
Andy Jones played Charles Sturrock with gusto. His ruthless nature was depicted well and he really knew how to command the stage when he was pacing around and getting excited about his plans for the Manor.
Aarron Armstrong Craddock gave a sensitive portrayal of David Rodingham. He really made the character come alive and you generally believed he was a reclusive writer. The only minor point is that he could do with lifting his head more during the performance as from the back of the auditorium we had a lot of the top of his head but overall a well presented performance.
Millie Farrelly was a delight as Julie Sturrock. Her friendly, warm nature was a great contrast to her overpowering and money driven husband. We could have done with a little more distinction between the Julie who was downtrodden by Charles and the Julie that was free and in love with David but that is only a minor note as she gave a lovely performance.
Elena Serafinas, well what can I say? Another well rounded and polished performance as the no nonsense Dr Elizabeth Woolley. Elena has been busy on stage at The Grange recently and you always know that you are going to get great charactrisation and performance when she walks onto the stage and this was no different. She always engages the audience from the second she enters to the second she leaves and Dr Woolley was certainly a brisk, family doctor who didn’t mind speaking her mind.
Finally we had George Wyton as Constable Hackett. Even though this was a small part, he made it his own and you believed from the interaction with David that he was a friendly, local bobby who loved his job and had great respect for the gentry. Only one tiny point - please polish the shoes as policemen would always have highly polished shoes and it was unfortunately the first thing I noticed when he walked on stage.
Overall, this production was well presented and performed and Suzy Donnolly and Louise Farmer should be very pleased with their directorial debut at the theatre - may there be many more to come.
The play runs until Saturday 28th November 2015
