The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery: Murder at Checkmate Manor

The fictitious ‘Farndale’ dramatic society are the protagonists of ten stage plays by English actor and writer, David McGillivray, and actor, barrister and playwright, Walter Zerlin Jr. Much like George Kelly does in his 1922 play, The Torchbearers, the ‘Farndale’ series sends up the machinations of the amateur dramatics group. So, how can any community theatre troupe resist!?

Director Sharon White, is also an experienced performer who knows her stuff. This is a complex undertaking for a small cast. All the actors play community theatre performers who are also portraying characters in the amateur murder mystery. It’s complicated but this cast really have fun with this outing of the dramatic society in the genre of the murder mystery. There are shades of Agatha Christie all over this storyline. My only thought is that some audience members not au fait with the fact that this is a spoof could be disappointed at not being able to finally guess whodunnit. But there is lots of fun audience participation from the outset as Philippa Dwyer and Susie Williams as Mrs Reece and Thelma take to the church hall early and in character to welcome everyone and make sure the scene is set for the Townswomen’s Guild production to follow.

Philippa Dwyer is so much fun in her roles as Mrs Reece/Clarissa Rook/Regine/Patricia Bishop/Letitia Bishop/Mr Goodbody. And Susie Williams eked out many laughs as her collection of characters: Thelma/Daphne Bishop/Rose Bishop – especially as the teenage tennis-playing Daphne who becomes smitten with Michael Alissi/Gordon’s Inspector O’Reilly. Michael plays the underpowered actor ‘Gordon’ with delight and his Inspector is happily hapless as a result. Gordon and Audrey (played by Amy Bent, playing Audrey, playing Lady Doreen Bishop/Violet Bishop/Mrs King/Joan Bishop) obviously have an off-stage relationship and this causes many a ‘corpsing’ moment. Madelyn Scott has fun with her Felicity, playing the mysterious servant, Pawn, and Colonel King. The action combines Frayn-ish ‘Noises Off’ type stage mishaps with a send-up of the ‘Whodunnit’ genre. However, in this case, there could be some internal politics among the Farndale group that causes the predictable denouement to go astray! I imagine if you’ve seen all ten plays in the series, there are back stories galore to piece together as the personalities of the community divas clash.

Bringing community theatre to Brisbane since 1960, St Luke’s is an experienced group of performers and stage creatives who know how to also have fun. The weekend matinee included a pop-up stall, a raffle and interval tea and coffee. There were plenty of delightful volunteers handing out programmes and showing us to our seats – were they in character too? We’ll never know! Kudos must also go to an extensive list of behind-the-stage personnel, include Stage Manager, Laura McIntosh and Sound, Lighting and Set Designer, Brett Simpson, who tackled many a planned stage mistake, fluffed lighting and sound effects cue, and wonky stage props. This is a fun way to spend a couple of hours, supporting your local community theatre troupe.

Find out more: https://stlukestheatre.asn.au

Beth Keehn

Photos: Sharon White