Murder is usually no laughing matter – but not when it comes to the Duleek Drama Players’ latest production, Murdered to Death, on stage at Drogheda’s Droichead Arts Centre from Tuesday, 18 to Saturday 22 April.
Combining Agatha Christie style intrigue with a deft comic touch, the play by Peter Gordon, is a murder mystery with a difference.
“You could say it’s a hoot of a who dunnit,” said director Carmel Matthews.
“Like any good detective story, it has cliffhanging riddles to keep the audience guessing, while the antics of the dimwit police inspector’s blundering murder investigation keeps them laughing.”
For the first time the local thespians have produced a short 90-second video aimed at whetting audiences’ appetite in advance of opening night.
“Bettystown based filmmaker Conor McCormick directed a fantastic taster video ‘Duleek Drama Players Murdered to Death’ for us, which is available now on YouTube and Facebook,” Carmel explained.
Set in a 1930s English manor, the play features a cast of 10 familiar characters from the murder mystery genre. These include amateur sleuth, ‘Miss Maple’ played by Dympna McNally, the snooty butler played by Con McGinley, a pompous Colonel played by Guy Lynch, a high society lady played by Ruth Matthews and a French art dealer played by Paul Davis.
Gathered for a jolly country house weekend the friends are shocked when one of them is murdered. Humour combines with suspense when the bumbling police inspector, played by David Andrews, arrives to investigate. But while the aptly named Inspector Pratt battles with his own incompetence the guests discover the murderer isn’t finished yet.
The question is, will the felon be identified before the others have meet their doom? Or will the audience die laughing first?
“Our audience can have fun picking out the likely suspects in advance with our Murdered to Death video on YouTube,” said Carmel.
“We were very lucky to have someone as talented as Conor, who’s debut short film ‘Beautiful Youth’ was a finalist at the Oscar/Bafta qualifying 2019 Austin Film Festival, on board,” she added.
Over the years the Duleek Players have raised many thousands of Euro for charity and 2023 is no exception. The performance on Tuesday, April 18 will benefit the Boyne Fishermen’s Rescue. The Drogheda Alzheimer’s Association is the charity partner on Wednesday, April 19, with the Mellon Educate Africa charity benefiting from the performance on Thursday, April 19.
Murdered to Death is on stage in the Droichead Arts Centre Drogheda from Tuesday, April 18 to Saturday, April 22, starting at 8pm. Tickets are €15 each and can be purchased HERE.
