Nottingham Theatre Royal – Friday 25 April 2025 and on UK Tour
Reviewed by Amy V Gathercole
4****
“A fresh take on the classic Agatha Christie style, with many twists!”
Pick up your magnifying glass, don your deerstalker, and collect your clues as you join the crew of Degrees of Errors and prepare to participate in a live improvised murder mystery.
This unique show invites the audience to become co-authors of an Agatha Christie-inspired whodunit, blending quick-witted humour with the suspense of a classic detective story.
Improv is an acting talent like no other. Having no script, no blocking to learn, and no real rehearsal is true bravery on stage. To lay yourself open, purely reacting to prompts — and in this case, audience suggestions — is impressive.
Murder, She Didn’t Write is very tongue-in-cheek in nature, and every show is different. One cast member takes on the role of the Detective, serving as the narrator and guide. They break through the fourth wall (often) to pose questions to the eager and often delightfully confused audience.
During the shenanigans, the audience crafts the narrative and suggests some plot points. Tonight’s Detective was Peter Baker, who was charming, cheeky, and charismatic in the role.
Alongside Peter, the gang on stage tonight included Rachel Procter-Lane, Sylvia Bishop, Harry Almark, Stephen Clements, and Peta Maurice, who collectively built the characters we come to embrace and eventually suspect.
Taking a Cluedo-style approach to things, each of the characters was dressed in different shades of a single colour with a name to match, keeping it visually interesting but also easy for the audience to identify who’s who.
The lighting and sound (from Adam King and Lucy Baker-Swinburn) were also crucial parts of the show. Not only did we have actors reacting live and in the moment to suggestions and ideas, but there was also a live pianist on stage. The pianist provided musical accompaniment to the mood, hilarity, and tension with sound effects and instrumental riffs galore.
Throughout the performance, the actors maintained a remarkable connection with the audience, often breaking the fourth wall to incorporate reactions or respond to spontaneous comments.
The cast’s ability to build off their audience’s energy and suggestions seamlessly demonstrated their incredible skill and quick thinking, including references and jokes that were Nottingham-based, which was a great touch.
Tonight’s performance included audience suggestions such as, a proposed meeting of a speed awareness course and a goat yoga session, but neither were the winner. The audience went down the darker route of death and the occult instead, with the murder taking place at the opening of a mortuary
It may head in very unhinged directions, but the audience leaves the theatre laughing, having embraced the madness unfolding before them.
So, if you’re up for something a little more experimental, prepare your ‘finger of suspicion’ and join the gang as they predict, commit, and solve a murder.
Murder, She Didn’t Write is visiting theatres across the UK in 2025 and you can purchase your tickets here https://www.murdershedidntwrite.com/tour-dates