There’s No Mystery in Murder! – Edinburgh Festival Fringe

There’s No Mystery in Murder continues at theSpace on the Mile – Space 2, Edinburgh until 27 August 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Welcome to Rothersdale, Yorkshire – where we find ‘the peasants are revolting’, as it were. The local councillor is being heckled about his decision to bring a large supermarket to the little town. Needless to say, every small high street business feels threatened: from florist to fruit and veg; butcher to baker. So, when the councillor is shot dead, there’s no shortage of suspects.

The local police station calls in a ‘proper detective’ from Leeds as there’s never been a murder in Rothersdale before. Nia Tilley as the station’s young police officer is a great fan of TV detectives and has been desperate to test her powers of deduction. She is the only performer keeping the same character; the other three performers play at least one other character. Will Garrood as the councillor and the Leeds detective is the only other actor with a low character count.

The cast works well together, delivering the cracking script at a good clip. Very lively and laugh out loud funny.  William Lambert has written, directed and taken on a raft of characters – each distinct from each other; he has a very ‘articulate’ face that can change at will to suit. Katie Brier puts in a massive shift through her cast of ever so many citizens of Rothersdale.

Danny Horn’s music is via a pre-recorded accompaniment, with arrangements by Max Rubham. While understanding this is probably a budget choice, it does mean that the songs cannot evolve during the run. It’s great to hear true voices though, rather than through microphones – what’s more, the cast have great diction – every word is clear. The passages of counterpoint are really well written.

The ‘corner on’ staging with the audience seated on two sides of the square performance area is handled very well with neat direction making the most of the range of exit/entrance points, keeping a flow going. There are a few ‘awkward’ blackouts between short scenes that could do with a bit of underscoring or a recurring musical motif to help the flow.

This aside, the show is well written in its entirety. It is a touch frantic at times, switching from one short scene to another in a way that would work better on screen than on stage. A lot of the chaos and keeping the tempo running would be overcome without doubling (even quin-tupling!) characters in a larger company. There is certainly a lot of merit in the show and it could do well in community and student companies.

It also has the funniest joke I’ve heard on the Fringe this year – watch out for the character that spends a lot of time and money on horse racing. And no – no spoilers here be it punchlines or serial killers.

A great wee gem of a show!

Fiona Orr