Capital Fringe Festival review: Ad Interim Theatre’s ‘Aaaaaagh! Murder!’ - Washington Post

"Aaaaaagh! Murder!" would certainly be considered clever, if only Tom Stoppard hadn't beaten the Ad Interim Theatre to the punch 50 years ago. The show is a parody of Agatha Christie-style parlor mysteries, but it's hard to see what this play was trying to accomplish that "The Real Inspector Hound," Stoppard's parody of the same, hadn't done already. And if it's "Hound" that the folks behind "Murder!" were trying to parody, well, it's unclear how the parody of the parody comments on the latter, rather than just the original.

Nevertheless: If Ad Interim's goal was just to put on a fun show with silly accents, comparisons to Stoppard be damned, it succeeded. The setting is the newly christened Gloomethorne Manor (previously named Murderton Abbey, but it was given an optimistic update), where Lord and Lady Killington are about to have a party. After the guests have assembled, the Killingtons are informed that their entire staff has been murdered. They can hardly be bothered: "Shall we move on to fancy hats?" "But we haven't had pudding."

As inspector Barnaby Tweed investigates the murders, the four people left in the manor reveal their potential motive for the crime, though these are ignored by the bumbling detective. And, in the good tradition of murder mysteries, the suspects begin to drop — or do they? In the case of Lady Killington, it's fainting, not expiring: "I'm ever so sensitive to sudden entrances," she says, whenever visitors enter the room without properly being introduced by the butler. Lady Killington is played by Claire Coyle, who is a delight to watch, especially in her silent moments, when she is able to compose herself as primly as a cameo brooch.

You can't count on Tweed to tie up every loose end in this mystery — but then again, he's no Inspector Hound.

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US 'Afghan shooter' Bales faces 17 murder counts

The US soldier accused of a massacre of Afghan civilians will be charged with 17 counts of murder and six of assault and attempted murder. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is currently held in solitary confinement at a military detention center in the US and could face the death penalty if convicted. Earlier this week his attorney said there's a lack of evidence against his client and he has no memory of incident. Meanwhile the Taliban has already vowed to take revenge against American forces, saying it doesn't trust a US court to deliver justice. Jim Brann from Stop the War Coalition says Washington privately views Afghanistan's leaders dismissively - a policy it follows in dealings with other countries. RT on Twitter twitter.com RT on Facebook www.facebook.com

Video Rating: 4 / 5



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