A whodunit improv done well
BRUCE DEMARA ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
It’s a whodunit solved by a whoknows until curtain time.
Rebecca Northan — who created the wildly improbable smash hit Blind Date, which involved plucking a potential Mr. Right out of the audience each night — is back with another improv adventure that’s sure to please.
The concept is both novel and a bit of a high-wire act, choosing an audience member just before show time to play a rookie detective sent “undercover” to a country estate to observe and report on an art auction.
There, of course, someone is murdered and it’s up to the detective, with the assistance of a senior officer, to unravel the clues and solve the murder.
On opening night, the task fell to tall, lanky Alex Earl — actually a master’s student — and this is the tricky part: he had to listen carefully as the puzzle’s pieces were revealed and take subtle direction from Detective Sergeant Collins (played by Northan) to solve the mystery.
The play opened appropriately with a thunderclap and some ominous music as Collins took Earl aside for a quick orientation. He was reminded to use his “big boy voice” to ensure he could be heard properly — projection was not among Earl’s learned skill set.
Designer Glenn Davidson has created two large and wonderfully versatile masking flats that transform the scene from the police station to the drawing room of a country manor (and later, other rooms) and we soon meet the six cast members.
There’s Georgie Vinen (also played by Northan), the profligate estate owner, her artist husband Peter, cousin Brook Pounsbury, city councillor Graeme Nelson, mob queen bee Lia Da Costa and estate manager Daniel Murphy.
Northan is particularly good in both roles, but all six actors — including Bruce Horak, Christy Bruce, Dennis Cahill, Terra Hazelton and Jamie Northan — are seasoned performers adept at playing to the audience.
The “fourth wall” of the stage has never been so permeable.
The story itself is a standard murder mystery right down to the poison of choice — strychnine — and various clues are strewn throughout.
But it was a lot to ask of poor Alex, an untrained performer, to do all that was required of him (though Earl was pretty darn good) and, as a result, the solution he worked out was not entirely satisfying.
Not to worry. The cast has come up with eight solutions so far in preshow rehearsals and there’ll almost certainly be a new murderer unmasked when the next “rookie” detective is recruited.
It’s a two-act show and the audience was engaged from start to finish.
It looks like Northan has another killer hit on her hands.