"Murdered To Death" by Peter Gordon.

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

This is the first of the Inspector Pratt trilogy of Agatha Christie style spoofs, and is the second production of this play that I've seen in a couple of months. Like a Shakespeare play, great plays can be perceived differently by two separate directors. The storyline will be the same but the vision can be completely different, while being as enjoyable.

The play introduces the inept and bungling Inspector Pratt, who battles against the odds and his own incompetence to solve the murder of the house’s owner. It soon becomes clear that the murderer isn’t finished yet; will the miscreant be unmasked before everyone else has met their doom or will the audience die laughing first?

The play is set in a country manor house in 1936, where Mildred, her niece Dorothy, and butler, Bunting, await the arrival of their guests. Once everyone has arrived and settled into the house, someone is murdered and a classic ‘whodunnit’ begins. With the murder comes the arrival of Inspector Pratt, an hilariously incompetent yet stubborn detective, and Constable Thomkins, the much more level-headed of the duo. 

And of course, one cannot forget Joan Maple, who counts herself ‘unlucky’ for the fact that whenever she goes anywhere, murder always seems to follow her. almost reminds you of Agatha Christie’s iconic Miss Marple, don't you think? 

Monica Dakin plays Mildred Bagshot, the wealthy owner of Bagshot House, who has invited friends over for a get together and a meal. It's not too long before we discover that Mildred has a secret that she is not willing to give up on, but how far is she willing to go to get what, or who she wants? Mildred, as portrayed by Monica is wonderfully over the top and strung as high as a highly strung woman can be strung, and with a wonderfully plummy accent.

Sarah Godwin plays Dorothy, the niece. We find out that there's a certain negative feeling between the niece and Elizabeth Hartley Trumpington, and it doesn't just run to the pair's fashion choices. Sarah, as Dorothy reminds me slightly of Velma from Scooby Doo in appearance, especially with the glasses, which just adds to the comedy of this character for me, personally.

Bernard Whelan is Bunting, the man servant. Buntings' liking for sherry becomes obvious and the effect that this tipple has on his ability to carry out his duties as retainer becomes apparent, making an already comical character into an even funnier character. Like all of these actors, Bernard excels as a character actor.

Richard Fife plays Colonel Charles Craddock, The Colonel is in his sixties and is very confident in an ex army kind of way. I have seen Richard in quite a few productions over the years, but as Colonel Craddock, he has topped all that he has done, even Shakespeare, in this character. He reminds me of an actor called Ballard Berkely, whose name may not mean much to anyone, but Berkely played the part of Major Gowen in the TV sitcom "Fawlty Towers". The characters are very similar and Richard's performance was a definite high spot for me here.

Becky Matter plays Margaret Craddock,  the long suffering "old girl" of a wife. Margaret Craddock is very sharp with her speech, but is also very sharp with what she knows, and what she knows could either be the making of the character or their downfall. Now, I can't help making comparisons with a lot of these brilliant actors with some of the most memorable character actors from my childhood, and Becky has that wonderful acidic scowl of Hylda Baker as Mrs Craddock.

Elizabeth Hartley-Trumpington, what a mighty fine name that is as well, is played by Emma Carlton. A lady belonging to high society, but is there something that this woman is not showing to her fellow guests? I think that I last saw Emma in "Much Ado About Nothing". This performance combines Emma's wonderful comic skills, that she also displayed in Shakespeare, with some lovely character role playing. And I love the wig and make up for Emma.

Polis Loizou plays Pierre Marceau, an art dealer in his early thirties, well dressed and has provided Mildred with the art shown in her sitting room. The accent in this production has not gone over the top and sounds authentic Parisian. The look is very Parisian with striped T shirt, white sailor pants and boating shoes, and you can see where the Marceau part of his name comes into play as Polis looks a cross between the famous French mime artist and a young Poirot, complete with twirly moustache.

Michelle Smith plays Joan Maple. Maple is an amateur sleuth but everywhere she turns up, she seems to attract death and murder, well I suppose that is good for an amateur sleuth, just not very good for the people who she comes into contact with. Michelle plays a blinder in this role, and quite unlike any of the TV Marples... or Maples, Marbles or Jones'. Listen really carefully near the end of the play for a revealing titbit of information that may, or may not, reveal something about the character that I certainly never cottoned on to from watching any incarnation of Christie's amateur detective!

Constable Tomkins is played by Chris Collins. Poor Thompkins - or is it Thompson? - has to put up with the physical bunglings as well as the verbal bunglings - is there such a word as "bunglings" I wonder? - of his superior, in rank only, of Inspector Pratt. There's a comparison of intelligence with Thompkins and Pratt to Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes. Does Thompkins get the recognition he deserves though? There's some wonderful make up work done for Chris in this production. 

Nik Hedges plays Inspector Pratt. Pratt has so many spoonerisms to deliver, and at such pace, does he even get one of the names of the characters correct throughout? There are lovely echoes of the physicality of Basil Fawlty with Pratt, and the verbal acrobatics of linguists like Kenneth Williams and Ronnie Barker in the delivery of this brilliantly funny script. I wonder if Peter Gordon was a "Fawlty Towers" fan as that's the second nod I noticed I've mentioned towards the Torquay sited seventies sit com? All of the actors stand out in their own rights for the characters they play, but surely Nik must have the hardest character to play, and what a brilliant Rotherham accent throughout, and you know how I love accents!

Directed by Christopher Mercer, who also designed the set. Let me start on the set. This is a very stylised set; everything, and I mean absolutely everything is black or white or shades of monochrome. This straight away creates that 1930's feel, as if you are watching one of those old films you used to watch on Sunday afternoons when you were a lad, or a lass. It is a beautiful set, incredibly classy, and every little prop matches the set for chromotomity ( I don't know if this is a word, but I feel that it ought to be). 

All the action takes place in the Bagshot sitting room, which straight away alleviates the need for scene changes. The set is also a mirror image to any other production of this play that I've seen. The door to the dining room and kitchen in this set is at stage right; not that this makes any difference to the audience member, just that I've not seen it staged this way previously, and takes me back to what I said earlier about a Director's vision can make a difference to someone like myself who is lucky enough to see lots of theatre. It keeps me on my toes, so thank you for that Chris.

Chris is a wonderfully talented Director, and have seen his work several times over the years, so I know that where comedy is concerned, you will not be let down by Chris' vision of what he wants to create on stage. I often go on about pace of a play, and this play is perfectly paced. There are sections that you think an actor may have stumbled over a line, and then the pace kicks in. The timing between the speeches for some of the characters are split second, almost like a volley attack in tennis, and all this variant of pace enhances the comedy value of a play like this one.

Mr Director and Mr Set Designer, you have triumphed again.

Lighting Designer is Simon Carter and the Lighting Assistant is Ellen Woszatka. Nothing fancy needed for this type of play, and I've said so many times in the past, simple design and operation, when required, is always the best in order to let the shining lights radiate from the actors on stage.

Sound Design is by Jonathan Blacknell. Timing is the key for this area of production and, like the actors themselves, the timing was spot on. And what I also loved about this production was the comedy sped up voice on the other end of the phone when the call was taken by Inspector Pratt. This also added another layer of comedy to the production.

Projection Design is by Laurie Owen. This also helped set the tone, the mood and the era of the play. the black and white cartoons, combined with the wonderful 1930's style music just took you back to those black and white days. When you walk through the auditorium doors, you are hit with black and white, cartoons and the music, and the first word that came into my head was "WOW". It makes a statement indeed.

A special mention must also go to Max Bromley for the wonderful costumes and Linda Croston for the wigs, as well as whoever was responsible for the brilliant make up.

I was chatting to Chris, the Director, before the show and he said that tickets are running out for this production, and I certainly can see why, now I've seen it myself. The show is a work of art, but thankfully more original than Pierre's art that hung on Mildred's wall.

Go get a ticket - you can book one online - right now, because this is a show that you do not want to let go by. Sacre bleu mes amis!!

"Murdered To Death" is at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 5 October.

Photography by Christopher Collins.