Surgeon’s Hall
August 4-12, 14-26

Errare Humanaem Est

I love mi Agatha Christie me, she’s reyt good, a book or two of whom will always accompany me on mi ‘olidiz. I also love Columbo, tho’ discovering who did it at the start does distract somewhat from the puzzle – but fortunately watching the great man in action is always a delight! So, when I notic’d that a Murder Mystery troupe was winging into the Fringe, it flew right to the top of my theater review list.

Off to the Surgeon’s Hall I strutted, a really nice sunny Sunday bubbling with Fringe loveliness, & was soon sitting in a sold out-show with four actors & an enthusiastic swathe of amateur sleuths. Then began the setting of the scene, four American accents filling the room with dodgy puns & the background of the tale. There’s been a murder at Corny Brothers studios; then another, & one of our four characters has definitely done it, but which one?

“Get behind it, it’s going to be happening.”

Then for me a big surprise. The thing is, Highly Suspect incorporate the British after-dinner predilection for cracking out the murder mystery games, & I suddenly had a folder full of notes & clues & codes & writing, which after raving down Whistle Binkies til 5AM the previous night was not ideal. Luckily, there was also the chance of composing a limerick, which I focussed on instead, while observing the intense sleuthery rumbling all around me.

Twas a destiny dark & ill-fated
Tom Corny was decapitated
The studio lock’d down
The facts pass’d around
Were quite fiendishly investigated

Next came a number of speeches from the cast, helping us to fill in the gaps not provided by the folder-clues. What amazed me reverentially is that, between everybody, the room actually got the right answer. I was also bless’d to sit next to some reyt Bletchley Parkers, who actually cracked the little black book code of Greta Garbage, the southern belle star of the background film ‘Back with the Breeze‘ – the sequel to Gone With The Wind.

For those who love their theater interactive, & also possess an analytical mind, Murder at the Movies is a joy, while its also, I guess, a competition. Trying to decipher it all with a massive hangover, wasn’t the best – tho I still enjoy’d myself thoroughly, & was completely wrong when, after the audience’s knee-slapping drum roll, the murderer stepp’d out from the line-up.

Now I know what’s going on with Highly Suspect, I’ll be better prepar’d for their other show at the Fringe, Murder on the Disorient Express. Well, that’s what I thought right before I pass’d the cast in the Surgeon’s Hall bar, complementing them on the show & exclaim;d I was very much looking forward to doing better next time. ‘Oh, the next one’s more difficult, but you do get more time for it,’ they replied. In that case, I told myself, I’m not gonna drink for three days before I go in…

Damo