...Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery'
No – not a new dramatic society in our midst! This is the full title of Henfield Theatre Company’s production to be presented at The Henfield Hall on 23, 24, and 25 March at 7.45pm, with a matinee on 25 March at 2.30pm. (The cast and crew are referring to the play simply as “Farndale”.)
In his first outing as Director, John Coit leads a cast of six from the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society in presenting an Agatha Christie-style ambitious evening’s entertainment – a cunning whodunnit, “Murder at Checkmate Manor” in a 1930’s drawing room. The cast of six cover all fourteen roles with hysterical results!
Every drama group has experienced the horrors of what can go wrong on opening night, and this production is no different – with the possible exception that almost everything that could happen, does! The scenery collapses, cues are missed, lines are forgotten, and the sound effects take on a strange note at times … Utter mayhem!
This play is written by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jnr., who formed the touring theatre company Entertainment Machine in 1975. The following year their play The Farndale Macbeth was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to such acclaim that a further nine Farndale plays ensued. This one, the Murder Mystery, was first produced in Edinburgh in 1980 and was partly revised by the authors for a new tour in 1996.
Kindly sponsored by Andy Blunden Ceramic Wall & Floor Tilers Ltd, tickets for the “Farndale Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery”, costing £12 for raised seating and £10 for floor seating, go on sale via www.henfieldtheatrecompany.co.uk and at Steven’s Estate Agents in Henfield High Street on 20th February.