Leicester Square Theatre – 23 September 2018
Reviewed by Meghan Smith
4****
Murder she didn’t write is an innovative show where the entire cast and audience are completely clueless as to what the story line is other than a murder occurs and a detective solves the case. Initially, I was slightly sceptical about the title of this performance and it’s synopsis. This is due to the fact that I had never been a fan of improvised theatre and preferred to sit back and watch someone else show me a story on the stage without me having to get involved. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this afternoon’s show at the Leicester Square Theatre.
Today’s show was decided by the audience to be based on a murder that takes place in a plastic surgery. The murder weapon was decided to be a syringe which is strangely made out of ice. This proved a slight challenge for the performers as their characters were made to be set in the 1920’s when plastic surgery wasn’t as popular as it is in today’s society. This issue was highlighted throughout the show as all of the cast struggled with their ideas at times as they sometimes slipped to and from the 1920’s due to being on the spot in an awkward situation. However, they should have had not acknowledge on the era to aid themselves in their improvisation which is what I felt was lacking in the overall performance.
This was also seen with the inspector who was fashioning a silver, eye-catching nose ring which was slightly off putting due to the fact that it caught the light a lot as well as not being from the era they were setting the piece in.
On the other hand, I believe the actors performed extremely well under the circumstances they had been given as they managed to put on a thoroughly enjoyable show for both themselves and the audience.
One slight issue I did notice is that although their improvisation skills were immaculate at times, they were all concentrating a little too much on trying to be the most comedic on the stage and this sometimes led to their lingo becoming a little taboo for this audience and the time of day. On the advertisements for this show and the information I had been given on it, it never mentioned anything about an age limit which I then imagined meant it was child friendly. Contrary to this, the performers sometimes forgot that there were children in the audience who weren’t yet mature enough for this kind of language.
Other than this slight mishap and overlooking from the cast, they managed to perform a hilarious and hit show which I would recommend to everyone who wants a good laugh and a fun night whilst still being involved with the show and feeling like a part of the cast.