Murdered to Death!, Burley Players, Burley Village Hall, Burley

Burley is just the kind of village where Miss Marple might live, but in this comedy twist on an Agatha Christie play, it was Miss Maple (Mary Turner) who knitted and observed, supporting the incompetent Detective Inspector Pratt (Steve McTaggart) and the hard-done-by Constable Thompkins (Deborah Nightingale). The script was witty and well-written, littered with innuendo and malapropisms and the local audience found additional laughs, relating the on-stage characters to their off-stage personalities. Some of the jocosity was lost due to shakiness with the lines but there remained plenty of laughs. Word-perfect and nicely contrasting, the bumbling Colonel Craddock (Clive Gammon) and his dour wife (Sue Trotter) stood out for all the right reasons and niece, Dorothy Foxton (Kirsty Danks) had the looks and diction of the era, and there were some choice characterisations from other cast members, as they dropped like flies, victims of a dastardly plot. The set, props and costuming were all splendid.

After this fun-filled evening I would hanker after village life were it not so damned dangerous!

Rebecca Case