Brighton Theatre Royal Review: Midsomer Murders
Summary
Rating: ★★★★★
Running Dates: Tuesday 3rd February- Saturday 7th February
Where to see it: Theatre Royal Brighton
Duration: 2.30 hr (incl. interval)
Guy Unsworth’s play, Midsomer Murders - The Killing At Badger’s Drift is a whirlwind of secrecy, illicit affairs, and death.
Photography by Manuel Harlan
The plot follows the investigation into the murder of Miss Emily Simpson. Initially declared as natural causes, her cause of death is soon discovered to be much more sinister. The audience gets to uncover the mystery along with the inspectors after as they discover clue after clue. It’s set in a village that consists of two roads, the large estate of Mr Trace, and lots of messy hidden truths.
The story is set in a village that thrives on the secrets it holds, full of secret relationships and illicit affairs. Little did the villagers know the eccentric ‘bird watcher’ Iris Rainbird (John Dougall) could see all the way to the estate with her binoculars, and kept a detailed account on everyone’s lives.
Daniel Casey was the creator of Sergeant Troy in the ITV series of Midsomer Murders back in the 90s and 2000s. Now he has taken on the role of Inspector Barnaby in this adaptation, he has said that he never expected to revisit it but is gladly doing so with “its weird and wonderful characters and all their dark, twisted secrets. Workshopping the play, you realise the characters have an inherent theatricality, which is perfect to bring to the stage.”
The play explores the themes of death, secrecy, relationships and friendships. I’d go as far as saying this was one of my favourite plays to watch. I went in open minded but without knowing much context, having not read the novel by Caroline Graham that it was adapted from. Sat next to me was my best-friend who was an avid watcher of the TV series by Bentley Productions when she was little. She found the performance as enthralling as I did, with a touch of nostalgia from the good old days where she would sit and watch it with her late nan.
Photography by Manuel Harlan
Whilst we were the youngest audience members by far, I felt my lack of prior knowledge and age did not separate me from the rest of the audience who laughed along and enjoyed the many references to classical music, Brad Pitt movies, and occasionally Agatha Christie.
The comedic performance was filled with audience laughter at the adult humour and puns on profanity like calling the Detective Sergeant a “C*nt-stable”. An unforgettable performance was put on by Chandrika Chevli who simultaneously re-enacted the male and female parts of an affair, with the right half of her costume resembling Dickie Whiteley, a groundsman on the estate, and her left side dressed as Barbara Lessiter, the second wife of the local doctor. A chair was placed in the middle of the stage facing away from the audience, here she sat switching from facing from the right to the left of the stage, changing her voice as she did to depict both characters perfectly when being questioned at the police station.
The play concludes with a final classical music reference, tying all loose ends, as Lucy Bellringer (Julie Legrand), best-friend to the first victim and reason for the investigation, pays respect to their friendship and the four important aspects of life: arts, horticulture, cake and friendship.
See If: you’re a fan of the source material and want a blast from the past, or if you’re excited to discover your next favourite play!
Stand Out Moment: the lead Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (Daniel Casey) spinning around in his dressing gown surrounded by all the suspects in hazmat suits repeating their alleged statements from the night of one of the murders
You can find last minute tickets for the show on the ATG Website
We were kindly gifted these tickets in exchange for a review.
Written by Isabel Meszaros