Review: The Sound of Murder at the Yvonne Arnaud

The Talking Scarlet theatre company bring a classic whodunit – The Sound of Murder – to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. Showing until March 4, this is a thoroughly enjoyable evening of murderous entertainment says Peter Morley

The Sound of Murder_Michelle Morris and Corrinne Wicks.JPG

Michelle Morris & Corrinne Wicks

This engaging and smoothly crafted play, from the pen of one of our less well known playwrights, William Fairchild, provides an excellent evening for theatre goers. It might seem dated but it’s time we accepted a story set a little over half a century ago as a period piece and this play reminds those of us who were adult by 1960 of a time when Baby Boomers had not yet realised they were about to swing through the sixties.

The plot depends on and exploits the social norms of an earlier age that were still prevalent. Women were not yet liberated, divorce was not available for convenience and social pressures could lead hapless lovers to commit murder, especially if they had happened on a scheme for the perfect crime. Lovely stuff and we all enjoy a good murder, don’t we?

The Sound of Murder has not seen much stage time. It is recorded as entertaining a colonial audience in the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts in 1969 and seems to have been rested until it was put on for a provincial audience in the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne in 2007. A film version, The Last Shot You Hear, was released to indifferent reviews in 1969 – perhaps it would make a quirky entry to a film club list?

This play is put together well enough, there is really nothing wrong with it and it has all the ingredients that make it well worth going out on a wet, blustery evening. Fairchild plays with us before the interval. We are, of course looking for sub-plots and twists but everything goes to a simple, well devised plan, carried along by good dialogue and, in this production, by a competent cast.

Ben Roddy and Corrinne Wicks

The second half soon reassures us there is to be at least one twist, and all is not as it seems. The victim, the motive and the means are all up for grabs and is anyone innocent?

There are not many good lines to get us reflecting on human nature or the state of the world, and there is little humour, but there is a very satisfactory blend of characters and a solid plot. The main characters all carry their parts well but it is probably the slow-witted country bobby and the lonely spinster secretary who engage us the most.

We are encouraged to hate the intended victim for his selfish and ruthless pragmatism but, if the play has a weakness, it is that there is little to warm us to his unfortunate wife or her rather dull lover. We probably sympathise with them just enough to be content for them to plot to do away with the inconvenient husband.

I am not going to say, as the Brighton Herald claimed, that this is A gripping plot providing nail-biting tension. It is an hour and a half of murderous entertainment with a break for an ice-cream or a tipple in the middle when we can analyse the action so far.

Fans of Midsomer Murders will find this to their taste, with the added pleasure of live theatre in a lovely, traditional auditorium, made all the better for its tasteful refurbishment. We are lucky to have this in Guildford; get along there this week and enjoy it; traditional theatre well staged, directed and performed.