Review by Daz Gale
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
There seems to be a rise in improvised comedy shows taking over theatres in the West End and all over the UK in recent times. When done right, such as the unstoppable Showstopper! and the naughty but nice Mischief Move Night, they can make a killing. That is literally the case with the latest offering as Murder, She Didn’t Write makes its West End debut, following a long 13-year journey. The question is, would I find my sides splitting from it being so dead funny?
Like other improvised comedies, Murder, She Didn’t Write relies on the audience to dictate the story. The premise is simple – there has been a murder, but where did it take place and what item was involved? That is up to the audience suggestions and the cast take it from there. On their West End debut, it was “The case of the ever-growing cucumber” as a cucumber was involved in a murder on a school trip. From there, the cast created characters, situations, histories and plot twists in their own hilarious way, brilliantly calling back some of the suggestions from audience members that didn’t quite make the cut.
With great power comes great responsibility and that happens to be the case for one random audience member who gets to choose the setting and item at the beginning as well as decide the victim and the murderer later on in the show, meaning the cast begin their story not knowing which one of them is destined to meet a grizzly fate… and then not knowing which one of them did it. Once this has been revealed, they can start planting the clues in an attempt to make something logical out of the story – always a risk with an improvised show. If I have one minor criticism, perhaps this was TOO much power for one audience member and might have been more exciting if various audience members had chosen each plot twist. It also would have created that sense of danger and unpredictability crucial for any murder mystery.
Created by Degrees of Errors, Murder, She Didn’t Write can feature any cast members from a group of 13. At this performance, we were treated to Rachel Procter-Lane, Peter Baker, Caitlin Campbell, Stephen Clements and Douglas Walker as the five cast members attempting to tell the story, while Lizzy Skrzypiec took on ‘Agatha Crusty’ as she prompted the cast with direction they may not have appreciated and wrapped it all up as she solved the murder herself, making sense out of things that seemed senseless in a fantastic climax.
The skill of the cast impressed throughout as they thought on their feet, coming up with strange eccentricities for their characters and going with it. Whether that was a variety of languages, mixing up their senses or being 132 years old, you never quite knew what was coming next and neither did they and that was all part of the fun. With any improv show, there is always going to be a bit of hit and miss – perhaps the theme might not prove to be the most exciting or they may find themselves moving into an area of plot that just doesn’t work. The testament to these performers is how they deviate away from this, quickly rethinking and replanning until it works. Admittedly, the setting of a school trip was not the most enthralling and so it played second fiddle to the main setting of a castle, thankfully never seeing the children.
Sitting on the stage that is usually home to The Play That Goes Wrong, the setting of Murder, She Didn’t Write fit right in with a glorious design by Justin Williams giving the cast members plenty to play with including a great use of revealing the victim, aided with a great use of lighting from Adam King. Though the cast were making it up as they went along, they weren’t to know when their scene would end, sometimes very abruptly, giving another sense of unpredictability and, dare I say, danger.
Quite often, the subject matters of these improvised shows can be very stupid. However, it takes a great deal of intelligence to make something that stupid and the cleverness of all involved cannot be understated. Performing on a stage with no script, no idea what is going to happen or even if you’re going to be alive in the next five minutes must be a daunting task, but this group of performers did this expertly. All naturally funny and charismatic, it led to a wildly entertaining two hours of theatre. Though admittedly it may not be the best example of an improvised show I have seen, there is something truly exciting about Murder, She Didn’t Write and with perhaps only the slightest of tweaks to the format, I have no doubt it will go on to slay the competition. One thing is for certain though – when it came to their West End debut, they well and truly killed it.
Murder, She Didn’t Write tours the UK until 12th June 2025 including a return to the West End on 19th May.
Dates and tickets at https://www.murdershedidntwrite.com/tour-dates
Photos by Pamela Raith