A Murder is Announced by University Players
By Burton Taylor
Lance Writer
November 26, 2008
 “A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m. Friends accept this, the only intimation,” reads an ominous notice in the local paper.
Letty Blacklock (Heidi Lynch) and the other residents of Little Paddocks speculate if the notice is a merely bad joke or if it portends something more sinister? That evening, curious friends and relatives pay a visit. As the clock chimes half-past six, the lights go out, gunshots are fired, and a murder brings the impromptu soiree to a dead standstill.
When the lights return, an unknown crumpled body stains the carpet, and Letty is bleeding from her ear.
A Murder is Announced is a theatrical adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel, directed by David Savoy, and is currently in production by the University Players on campus.
This brilliant mystery features Christie’s prolific spinster sleuth, Miss Marple (Sarah Elisabeth Abbott). Marple is as astutely observant as Sherlock Holmes or CSI’s Gil Grissom in her detective work. Marple is well past retirement age. Her presence on the stage is deliberately subdued.
Inspector Craddock (played by the charismatic Kelly Penner) might be on the scene investigating, but it is always a collaborative effort with Miss Marple.
The cast of suspects is robust. Could it have been Mitzi (Julia Macleod), Letty’s Hungarian servant and perpetual grumpster? Or perhaps it was the dapper Patrick (Josh Williams) and his sister, Julia (Lisa Marie Hamalainen), the heirs to Letty’s fortune. Of course, it could have been any of those in attendance.
As the mystery gradually unfolds, it is further revealed that everyone has a motive for the murder, and no one is quite who they claim to be.
The narrative of play builds momentum like a locomotive. The introductory acts are almost a bit dreary by necessity. The dialogue is always sharp and punchy, but the play unfortunately chugs slowly along as characters are introduced and facts are subtly laid down because nothing happens.
Eventually, the plot gathers steam, as the bodies pile up and the clues are revealed, it becomes an increasingly exciting ride. This is much, much better than your average Murder, She Wrote episode.
Some may dismiss the whodunnit genre as middlebrow roughage, but the central themes of identity and truth are unmistakably postmodern, though are here presented without that awful aroma of academia.
The setting of the play makes it more Clue than Christopher Nolan’s Memento, but the pleasure of discovery is the same nonetheless.
There’s a reason why hordes of viewers tune in to CSI every week, and it’s not just for David Caruso’s smoldering gaze or Marg Helgenberger’s sexy assertiveness.
Christie’s mystery here is the same, but without the sleaze, less gore, and more tweed.
A Murder is Announced plays until Nov. 30 at Essex Hall Theatre.
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