We sat down chatting with Lizzy about Murder, She Didn’t Write. This witty, Agatha Christie-style whodunnit puts the audience in charge — from the setting to the suspect. No two shows are the same, as a sharp cast spins absurd suggestions into hilarious, high-stakes sleuthing.
Thank you for chatting with A Young(ish) Perspective! Introduce us to who you are and what your doing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year?
Hello, I’m Lizzy Skrzypiec and I’m the director and a performer in ‘Murder, She Didn’t Write’. It is an improvised murder mystery comedy theatre show where one member of the audience picks who dies and their killer, then the rest of the audience has to guess whodunit.
A Youngish Perspective platforms accessible arts and champions the huge scope of different perspectives – can you tell us about the show you’re taking to Edinburgh Festival Fringe as if you’re flyering to both a young first-time-Fringe goer and a festival veteran returning every year?
For any fringe first-timers then I would say that our show is on the fringe of theatre. Improvised off-the-cuff, flying by the seat of our pants originality. Come and see us as an introduction into the high stakes world of making stuff up on the spot with a whole host of laughs.
For fringe veterans I would say how much our show has changed over the past year. New set, new costumes, new lights. We are back and better than ever. Come and see where we are at and where we are heading. We are very proud of the shape our show is taking.
After eleven years at the Fringe how does Murder, She Didn’t Write stay fresh and relevant to Fringe audiences?
By its very nature of being completely made up on the spot and our performers are always reacting to things going on in the world. Not to mention our audience suggestions reflect current events too. We’ve had a murder at a Conclave when the pope was being elected, we have had the Eurovision Song Contest, Olympic breakdancing the very same day Raygun debuted at the Paris Games. So we can always bring in whatever is in the zeitgeist or minds of the audience and performers on stage.
What research are the performers asked to do to ensure they are able to accurately and dynamically be able to encapsulate the world of Agatha-Christe?
During rehearsals we would watch Poirots or Miss Marples but we also have a stash of books that our cast read on tour. Some of them are quite quick reads too. But a lot of our practice and rehearsals centre around the skills and comedy theatre chops used to make a solid show that people will belly laugh at.
Who would your surprise dream audience member be?
Oh my! I would love Dick Van Dyke to comes and see us. I used to love Diagnosis Murder. But then again if I spotted David Suchet in our audience I think I would be unable to contain my excitement at having Poirot himself solving the murder in our audience. I wonder if he would guess the killer correctly…