Broken Legs Blog

Tabs Productions’ annual Classic Thriller season returns to the Nottingham Theatre Royal with Peter Gordon’s “Death by Fatal Murder”, the first of three productions playing over the next few weeks. Directed by John Goodrum, the murder mystery farce is a sequel to last year’s “Murdered to Death“, featuring Detective Pratt (this year played by the incredibly funny Mark Pearce) as he blunders into another investigation. This time, he must solve the case of the missing constable (a police constable, not a painting by Constable), feared to have been murdered whilst snooping around Bagshot House. As he goes about his sleuthing, we are introduced to a cast of eccentric characters, secret motives and clever wordplay.

The story is mostly standalone, although Pavan Maru and Karen Henson reprise their roles as Constable Thomkins and busybody Miss Maple, and there are a few jokes made that reference last year’s tale, but rest assured that if you missed last year’s story, you should still be able to follow the plot. The play suffers from introducing too many characters and plot points a little too quickly – the first scene is a bit of a whirlwind of information, but once the story hits its stride, everything becomes clearer. Following the death of her father, Nancy Allwright (Sarah Wynne Kordas) is now the owner of Bagshot House, and she wastes no time in explaining the situation to the newly arrived Pratt, who misunderstands and misinterprets everything she says in his usual way. Pearce gives an excellent performance as Pratt, with several asides muttered under his breath which are sure to keep the audience laughing, and a healthy dose of physical comedy thrown in for good measure. He stumbles around the stage wreaking havoc, confusing the plot with various mispronounced words that add to the hilarity. Maru’s quietly intelligent policeman is a perfect foil for Pearce’s Pratt, smartly pointing out potential clues, and being the driving force that actually helps to solve the mystery, even though Pratt takes the credit.

Also present at the manor house are upper-crust Ginny Farquhar (Juliette Strobel, whose over-the-top acting and donkey-like laugh are initially very funny, but become a little tiresome as the play continues), flirty Italian Garibaldi (Jeremy Lloyd Thomas, who walks a fine line between comedic slimeball and out-and-out creep) and psychic medium Blodwyn (Susan Earnshaw, in a role that allows her to display a variety of well-realised and increasingly comical accents). A lot of the dialogue serves as set-ups for obvious jokes, but this doesn’t make the pay-off any less funny, and there is a lot to enjoy here as Pratt begins to question each of these suspects and is offered numerous red herrings along the way to solving the mystery.

The plot becomes a little convoluted in the second act – a final scene sees a number of reveals that might leave you scratching your head – but it all makes sense in the end. A brief detour into supernatural occurrences are also given a sensible resolution, but whether the manor is truly haunted by ghosts is left open for interpretation. The solution to the mystery is by no means simple, but there is comedy in the complicated, and Pearce’s Pratt looks as bemused as the audience as he tries to make sense of the intricate web of lies weaved between the various suspects that even raises questions about whether we can trust Constable Thomkins and Miss Maple.

Overall, this is a solid start to the Classic Thriller season, delivering exactly what you would expect from a farce that perfectly mocks the murder mystery genre. There is nothing particularly surprising about this play – what you see is what you get – but it is all performed with utmost enthusiasm from the very capable actors at Tabs Productions. An excellent opener, and I for one cannot wait to see what the rest of the Classic Thriller Season has to offer.

Tom Morley, August 2025

For more information on how I decide on star ratings, see here: Star ratings – Broken Legs Blog

The Classic Thriller season continues throughout August, with “Death by Fatal Murder” playing from 12th – 16th August, “Deathtrap” playing from 19th – 23rd August and “The Business of Murder” playing from 26th – 30th August.