MURDER, SHE DIDN’T WRITE - REVIEW

There’s been a murder!

From the minds of Degrees of Error Theatre, comes an improvised murder mystery. The announcement at the beginning of the show states that everything that unfolds on stage is improvised.

The detective (Peter Barker) throws a hat into the audience and his co-detective, Jerkins, is chosen. With audience suggestions of a crime and place; we ended up with ‘The Case of the Blue Jelly’ at ‘A Not My Baby, Baby Shower’.

With our story formed, we watch as the characters are introduced, all performers in different coloured outfits. Jerkins then chooses the victim and the murderer but secretly passes coloured cards to the detective.

With a couple preparing for their cat’s baby shower, two brothers that inherited a jelly-making business, who know nothing about jelly, and a scientist who goes around conducting paternity tests – the results of this improv show are bonkers, to say the least.

It’s incredibly well structured, Barker guides the show, chiming in when necessary to amp up the humour. Lights go out and freeze frames occur regularly to ensure the show progresses with good pacing, if there is a hesitation the tech team moves the show along. The freeze frames also provide some extra hilarity.

Stephen Clements as Mr Blue, the unfortunate victim, is a standout. Incorporating jelly-themed puns, including “I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly”, he’s responsible for many laughs throughout the hour.

Murder, She Didn’t Write has a winning formula, and it’s incredibly fun to see the performers do something which the others must then react to. I love that we get to work out who the killer is and guess at the end. This is a killer hour of improv!

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{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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