Witty in moments, but genre confusion stops this mystery from truly shining.
When we hear murder mystery, a very specific image springs to mind. Between The Mousetrap, Poirot, Knives Out, The Play That Goes Wrong, and even Cluedo, the genre has carved out a well-loved and recognisable formula– one that artists continue to lean into simply because it works. It’s fun. It’s timeless. Occasionally, creators subvert or modernise the trope (think Death on the Nile or See How They Run), but audiences generally know what they’re there to enjoy: a whodunnit with flair. None of Them Will Get Out Alive clearly aims for that classic tone– but despite its best efforts, it ultimately misses the mark.
None of Them Will Get Out Alive is a self-described “thriller in the style of Agatha Christie, Among Us, and Squid Game… exploring the lengths people will go to in order to survive.” Written and directed by Samuel Winner, it follows 6 characters (Sophie Ellis Rue, Max Young, James Hardy, Sofia Robbins, Jean-Paul Mark Shlom, Colette O’Brien) over the course of a single night, in which, as the title suggests, they begin to be picked off one by one. There are twists and turns, unexpected alliances, and motives that unfold in quick succession.
The play is self-aware– and that’s one of its greatest strengths. From the first “murder” victim (Jean-Paul Mark Shlom) twitching dramatically on the floor with his tongue out, to his soon-to-be-revealed sister Georgia (Colette O’Brien) pointing to a spotless floor and exclaiming, “That’s blood!”, the piece embraces its clichés with a wink. These moments of meta-comedy genuinely land, and when the show leans into its low-budget, trope-filled identity, it’s at its most enjoyable.
But this tone isn’t sustained. The play repeatedly veers into more serious, thriller territory before the absurdity has time to hit its mark. The result is that neither end of the spectrum fully works: the jokes often fall flat because they’re undercut too quickly, and the stakes of the story feel deflated, because the show has already invited us not to take anything too seriously. The tonal shifts end up clashing a bit, and the piece feels caught between wanting to parody the genre and wanting to play it straight.
The script contains flashes of cleverness– most notably in a moment of physical comedy brilliance where Bertie (Max Young) is shot in the bum, and Mary (Sofia Robbins) launches into a dramatic, utterly absurd attempt at bum-CPR. It’s genuinely hilarious, a perfect example of the kind of camp energy the show could have embraced throughout. But because the tone is so undecided, many of these good ideas get lost. What could have been a gloriously over-the-top romp or a tense night of murder instead becomes muddled, with performances pulling in opposite directions. Some actors play it for laughs, leaning into the parody, while others veer into genuine thriller territory– complete with shouting matches and high-stakes drama. The result is a show where the cast feels like they’re in different versions of the same story, making it hard to emotionally invest in any of it.
Overall, None of Them Will Get Out Alive feels like a work in progress. There are glimmers of a fun, chaotic, self-aware whodunnit buried within, but the show needs to decide what it really wants to be– and then commit to it with flair.
None of Them Will Get Out Alive is playing at the Hen & Chickens Theatre until August 6th as part of the Camden Fringe 2025.
Ticket link: https://camdenfringe.com/events/none-of-them-will-get-out-alive/