Review: Murdered to Death

Monday 26th July 2010, 4:24PM BST.

Norman Pace as Inspector Pratt & Chloe Newsome as Dorothy

Review: Murdered to Death

Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Country house in the mid 1930s? Weekend guests including a society debutante, pretty young girl, French art dealer, bumbling colonel and amateur sleuth? Better get the door then, I think the Grim Reaper’s outside.

Peter Gordon’s Murdered to Death takes all the clichés of the Agatha Christie genre and has a lot of fun with them. When the man leading the investigation into the shooting at Bagshot House announces himself as Inspector Pratt, you know exactly what you’re in for.

As the inspector Norman Pace offers a masterclass in physical comedy. He really is very funny as he makes a complete hash of his investigation, even accidentally shooting his own constable as he tries to discover whodunit.

Pace is joined by other seasoned professionals including Sandra Dickinson, Victor Spinetti and Chloe Newsome, and they, and the rest of the cast, put everything they have into the show.

Apparently, ‘Murdered…’ has been produced more than 600 times, and yet it isn’t as funny as it could be. Some of its jokes are older, and deader, than the genre being spoofed, yet the actors manage to deliver laughs where lesser talents would struggle.

If you’re familiar with the genre you won’t be surprised when the murderer is unmasked, but you’ll have some fun along the way.

By Andrew Owen

Murdered to Death is now on at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre. For tickets click here.

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