We sat down for a chat with Lizzy Skrzypiec about her latest project, Murder, She Didn’t Write, an this interactive show, where the audience becomes the author as a classic Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery is written live.
1. What inspired you to blend the murder mystery genre with improv for Murder, She Didn’t Write?
We were already performing longform narrative shows and we were looking for a genre to really get our teeth into. We each brought a different genre we were passionate about to discuss and we were down to the two most popular genres of the meeting, ‘murder mystery’ and ‘westerns’. We saw so much room for comedy and play with murder mysteries and we were pleasantly surprised with how much collective knowledge we already had about the subject. It played to the strengths of our farcical, and ultimately quite hammy, style that it seemed like the perfect fit. That and if you saw our attempts at cowboy American accents then you’d agree we made the right choice.
2. How does audience participation shape each unique performance of the show?
Hugely. I cannot express how varied the shows can be. Each occasion the audience suggests has a whole world of unique characters and relationships. A murder at the opening night at the opera is very different to a murder at a plumber’s convention. Also every audience is different. When we played the Isle of Man, they were a very cheeky audience that appreciated any local references we put in. When we played at the Agatha Christie festival in Torquay they loved the drama and the mystery of the show. They were a very studious audience.
3. As the director, how do you guide the cast to maintain comedic energy and coherent storytelling during completely unscripted performances?
I think directing improv is more like being a manager of a football team. It’s about the preparation and the rehearsals, practising telling stories together and creating characters. It’s about sharpening our instincts, building comedic muscles and training our narrative intuition. It’s more about that, and feeding back after shows to make sure we are achieving shared aims. Then on the day of performance that’s when all that practise comes into play.
4. What has been the most bizarre or unexpected audience suggestion that led to a memorable scene on stage?
Oh boy we have had some unusual suggestions. We’ve had taxidermy conventions, solar eclipses, volcanic eruptions, a reunion for the survivors of the Titanic. Although one that springs to mind is ‘The Case of The Inflatable Banana’ at the reading of a will. The victim was fully inflated when the suspects discovered the body. As they inspected the victim, he then deflated and propelled himself all around the room like a balloon being let off. It was one of the weirdest and funniest body discovery scenes we’ve have.
5. With your dad’s background in the police force, has he ever given you any crime-solving advice for the show, even if he doesn’t consider it “real” work?
Haha! Yes, he has. The best crime solvers are often big on the details. Note down everything because something could turn out to be incredibly useful later. A suspect might start to get their story wrong if they are making it up, so remembering those details means that sometimes you can catch a person out in their own lie.
Also, we used to watch a lot of Midsomer Murders and dad would correctly guess the killer in almost every show – I was so impressed! When I finally asked how he worked it out he confessed that it’s usually just the most famous actor in the episode – but for ages I thought he might have been a bit psychic.