This is not a Murder Mystery by Peter Rae. The Drayton Arms theatre, 153 Old Brompton Road, London until 07 June 2025, 4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

Photo Credit: Lily Renshaw.

This is not a Murder Mystery by Peter Rae. The Drayton Arms theatre, 153 Old Brompton Road, London until 07 June 2025,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Bang on.”

The show certainly goes with a bang. Three actresses of a certain age and larger than life are in their dressing room getting ready for their first night, indulging in rituals to ensure success, exchanging first night gifts, and driving the young man there for no apparent reason who seems to have something to do with the production, but what escaped me, and their director to distraction. The young man is called McGuffin so I suppose that explains his purpose. The director's distraction is because although he is an award winner they are for adverts and this is his first play and, it would seem, his first encounter with divas like these. They are played by Helen Bang, who also directs, Laura Morgan, and Rosalind Blessed who spends the evening proving she is her father's daughter. She certainly can shout. Indeed bellow. They have a wonderful time – the McGuffin gets quite a lot of attention and seems interested in returning it to one of them. As for the trio, they are broads who are broad where a broad should be broad as somebody said somewhere. Act Two gets an injection of energy when, a murder having taken place off stage, on come Detective Inspector Charles Fortitude played by the author with considerable style and lots of hints that he may not be what he seems to be. It takes a little getting into at first but once you realise what is going on the evening becomes gloriously camp as the ladies prove they are divas through and through and the men get put in their place. They all wear red and being not exactly small are impossible to miss. James MacKay is a stalwart McGuffin, and Jonny Davidson twitches to the manner born as the going out of his mind director. It may not be great art or even great theatre but undeniably it is great fun. A bang on evening you could say.

Cast

Helen Bang – Elizabeth Treasure

Rosalind Blessed - Angelica Finchley-Power

Laura Morgan – Sheila Jayne Punnock

James McKay – McGuffin

Jonny Davidson – Sebastian

Peter Rae – Detective Inspector Charles Fortitude

Creatives

Director – Helen Bang.