Murder, She Didn't Write
For the 10 minutes before the show starts, our narrator and super-sleuth detective, Agatha Crusty (Lizzy Skrzypiec, also director) is sat on an imposing chair, surveying the audience to see if there are any suspects among us!
Eventually our super-sleuth addresses us, and we are in the action. She throws a deerstalker into the audience, revealing the undercover assistant among us – so undercover, they don’t even know who they are until they catch the hat! Her assistant has the final choice on the setting of the murder mystery and an unusual item, chosen from audience suggestions. On this occasion, our murder mystery is set in a 1933, intergalactic, speed date, with a very big hadron collider as the object of interest!
The scene is set, and our brave and talented improv cast assembles. Each is dressed in a significant colour, which becomes clear later, as the audience assistant chooses two coloured cards at random to reveal, first the victim and then the murderer.
As the chaos ensues, we are treated to a love triangle between two scientists, Professor Hadron and Dr Collider (!) (Stephen Clements/Sylvia Bishop) and an alien horseman (Peter Baker). We also met a rather incompetent and over dramatic HR director (Emily Brady) and the ubiquitous cleaner, Goldie (Rachel Procter-Lane) whose best friend is a seal called Steve.
This is laugh-out-loud entertainment from the start, helped along by the many sideline interjections from our narrator, who stops the action, suggests a plot development, which often tests the skills of her fellow actors. One mentions they are a philosopher, and so they are challenged to reference historical philosophers, their works and the dates of publication! Another mentions they are one of seven children and so have to name them for the rest of the production, including facts about them.
The cast is generous to each other, but they also challenge each other, with inevitable moments of surprise for each of them, only adding to the entertainment for us. Clearly, these are actors who are used to working together. The trust that a company has to build in order to improvise an entire play together – complete with a song – is significant. That trust shines through as each actor builds on the other’s increasingly improbable plot lines.
Having sat on the sidelines for most of the action, throwing challenge after challenge to her fellow cast members, the biggest challenge is left to our super-sleuth to sum up how the murder took place. With skill, Skrzypiec weaves in so many of the random, throwaway lines from the plot, and solves the murder. Can someone actually sweat petroleum jelly? Who knows, but it’s a crucial plot twist!
The raucous laughter from the audience, and the appreciative applause throughout at moments when we recognise the talent of the cast, is all the review you need to know that this is dead good improv!
This show was reviewed on the 21st July 2025 at the Duchess Theatre, London. For more details of the show please visit: https://www.murdershedidntwrite.com/
Review written by Ian Worsfold & Paul Wood
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Photo credit : Pamela Raith
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