Playwright
Derek Webb
Director
Marilyn Weston
Overview
Our autumn production this year was a side splitting comedy by Derek Webb. We ran for four sell-out nights to appreciative audiences and had great fun putting it on.
One audience member said: "Brilliant evening! Thank you all for being so funny – please could you pass on my congrats to all!".
Agatha Crusty (pronounced Croosty) is a crime novelist. She’s also pretty adept at solving crimes. And when her sister-in-law Alice invites her to spend a few days with her in the village of Chortelby, it’s not long before she gets caught up in a series of murders which seem directed at members of the All Saints Village Hall committee.
From Toby the Vicar and Eleanor Chair of the committee, to Harry Knott the caretaker and identical twins Olivia and Oliver Truscott-Pratt, there are plenty of suspects. And with an investigating officer as incompetent as D.I. Twigg, there are plenty of laughs as the murders begin to pile up. But, while packed full of wit and very funny scenes, this is also a genuine murder mystery with an ingenious plot to tax the little grey cells of the audience at the same time!
Kat Wootton’s review for Southern Arts Reviews – “Cheriton Players are very good at picking plays which appeal to their audience: comedies with broad brush strokes”. Her full review can be read here.
Anne Waggott’s write-up (Scene One Plus) is here. She says: “Always assured of a warm welcome from this small village group with a large heart, what a pleasantly amusing evening it turned out to be”.
Chris Atkinson of Hampshire Chronicle: “a member of the All Saints Village Hall committee is found face down, drowned in a water-butt, still wearing his yellow ducky wellies. “I wouldn’t be seen dead in them”, one character opines. “I don’t think he got much choice in the matter”, comes a response”. His full review can be seen here.
Show images by Simon Newman
The Cast
Mike Cornter. …………………………………………………………………………… Harry
Jane Wilde. ……………………………………………………………………………..Agatha
Jan Conway………………………………………………………………………………. Alice
John Weston……………………………………………………………. Olivia and Oliver
Katie Hinds. ……………………………………………………………………………Eleanor
Paul Willcox. ……………………………………………………………………………..Twigg
Jane Richards…………………………………………………………………………. Maisie
Tim Conway……………………………………………………………………………… Toby
Peter Wilde………………………………………………………………………. PC Lockett
Pauline Cornter. ……………………………………………………………………..Isabella
Isobel Wolf. …………………………………………………………………………….Mandy
Jamie Herdman. …………………………………………………………………. Mortimer
Director…………………………………………………………………… Marilyn Weston
Producer…………………………………………………………………………Tim Conway
Stage Manager…………………………………………………………..Angela Ledsham