Comedy, Calamity and Cold-blooded Murder
Guy Unsworth’s adaptation of the ‘Midsomer Murders’ pilot episode is hands down hilarious and yet still chilling and gruesome enough of a stage production murder mystery. Be prepared to laugh at some charming use of physical comedy while still portraying the ever-violent county of Midsomer. How the population of this county has continued is the real mystery!
Daniel Casey, who originally played Troy in the screen production, gives a rye and playful approach to DCI Barnaby. Portraying the detective’s ever-whirring mind as each piece of evidence slowly falls into place. James Bradwell gave an adorable, almost tragic puppy-like energy to the role of DS Troy that matched well with the more experienced Barnaby. His ‘teacup leg Jenga’ in particular was entertaining to witness. The two bounced off each other through-out with a chemistry that was a joy to watch.
The rest of the cast were left with the mammoth task of portraying the entire population of Badger’s Drift. While ultimately a not a large village the rate of costume changes was impressive, with special mentions to the quick change at the funeral and the absolute comedy in the split costume of Chandrika Chevli being highlights.
If you’re looking for a serious approach to the old T.V. show, then you would be best looking elsewhere, the energy to the performance along with countless double entendres gave the feel of a pantomime at points. It treads the absurd without pushing too far into it, minus a bizarre hallucination-like moment with Barnaby that marked the chaos show was spiralling towards in a more matter of fact way. The piece gives some great tongue in cheek moments, along with more brazen sections where language is more on the nose. Without ruining too much, Julie Legrand has countless moments that left the audience cackling. John Dougall likewise has many a laugh for his performance as Iris, which though a little dame-like was portrayed well as the village’s curtain twitcher.
The comedy was not only in the words but ingrained into the very set itself, with many sections of the set sliding on and off the stage via a pully, this had some perfect moments of humour where simply a look or watching a character being slowly slid off the stage that became funnier the longer it went on.
Without spoiling the ending, the piece pulled all the evidence together well and did an excellent job of the reveal at the finale. Some catharsis is lost with the fate of the guilty. But overall, it did a great job of keeping the murder mystery genre alive.
In summary, the show is clearly a loving tribute to the original series, while also finding its own spin on the genre that allows it to dip into a deeper comedy than a crime series normally would. The whole cast did a wonderful job, even those that simply had nothing more than delivering a withering look. The show is currently running at the New Theatre Oxford until the 2nd of May. If tickets are still available, this is one to recommend!