“Majestic Theatre to present Much Ado About Murder, October 23-25”
Join The Majestic Theatre for a show with all the ingredients of a deliciously frightening murder mystery, where the audience participates in solving the crime.
By Pat Cook / Rich but rotten Carlton Larraby enjoyed punctuating the lives of his family with macabre little surprises. His latest joke is a Halloween party with everybody dressed as a character from Shakespeare. When the play begins, the bored guests have arrived and wait impatiently for their host to show up, unaware that he has been gruesomely bludgeoned to death in his study. Since this is an audience-participation play, the murder is revealed to the audience before the characters of the play know about it. A sinister master of ceremonies named Mr. Hawker tells the audience what has happened in a series of flashbacks as he lets them see the events surrounding the murder. Little by little, as the audience gets to know the people of the drama, they begin suspecting who the murderer might be … only to discover that they’re wrong. To help them further, Mr. Hawker invites them to view the clue-rich scene of the crime during intermission. Finally, near the end of Act II, he gives the audience the opportunity to question the characters. All the ingredients of a deliciously frightening murder mystery are here—lightning, thunder, weird sounds, screams in the dark—plus the fun of letting the audience participate in solving the crime. As a critic pointed out, Much Ado About Murder provides a “whimsically entertaining night.”
Majestic’s production is directed by Becky Rush starring Maria Barry, Chad Boutin, Helen Dormah, Jordan Gagan, Scott Howard, Patrick McCarthy, Christopher Morris, Ilana Peet, Lee Peet, and Katherine Pereira.
Much Ado About Murder runs on Friday October 23 at 7pm, Saturday, October 24 at 2pm and 7pm and Sunday, October 25 at 2pm. Performances will be held at The Majestic Theatre Studios located at 880 Page Street, Manchester, NH. Tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors 65 and above, and $15 for students. Tickets can be purchased by visiting or calling the box office at 603-669-7469, online at www.majestictheatre.net or at the door prior to the performance. The Majestic is a non-profit NH community arts organization.