Creators: Jade Fearnley and Kate McCabe
Improvisation has always been a popular form of entertainment with TV shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but it’s fair to say it has seen a significant resurgence since Showstopper! The Improvised Musical launched. Since then, Mischief Theatre touch a trip into the world of improv with Mischief Movie Night, a similar concept to Showstopper but not usually a musical and instead creating a film live based on audience suggestions. Now we see Murder Inc. where a company of talented comedic performers take audience recommendations for theme, settings and characters and create a hilariously thrilling murder mystery live on stage.
Murder Inc., created by Jade Fearnley and Kate McCabe, enjoys performances in various cities and they have a regular residency at Seven Arts in Leeds. This week, the company brought the show to Sheffield at the Theatre Deli, presented by The Leadmill, to test the water as to whether they could have a regular residency in the Steel City.
Based on audience votes on entry, the audience found themselves whisked off to the stadium of hit BBC show Gladiators which has recently seen a come back. A French director brings fresh ideas to the production of the TV show which don’t go down well at all with others working on the TV show. Whilst your reviewer hadn’t seen Gladiators, this was still a fun evening out with plenty of laughs.
The first act consists of a series of scenes between pairs of actors as we start to see tensions rise leading up to one full company scene where a death occurs (this isn’t a spoiler, we’re told Act 1 will end with a murder before the show even begins!). After an interval, a detective character leads us through a series of interrogations with a range of hilarious flashbacks scattered throughout. This part of the show felt more reminiscent of similar shows like Mischief Movie Night and Showstopper, only here our narrator is seamlessly integrated into the action rather than interjecting from off side.
Sheffield’s cast consisted of Kate McCabe, Harry May-Bedell, David Stanier, Edward Easton and Liora Aroil.
Kate McCabe acts as compere, warming the audience up and getting their suggestions to be incorporated. She builds a fantastic rapport with the audience instantly, whilst also ensuring no one fears being picked on if they don’t want to be. She then perfectly took on the role of the Gladiators host, characterising them wonderfully as a glamorous American woman who likes the limelight, whilst also bringing some heart to the proceedings as we gained an insight into her character’s backstory.
Harry May-Bedell was eye-wateringly funny as Wolf, a contestant on the TV show – made even funnier with the knowledge that he doesn’t like the TV show. He led the audience through the second act with ease as the detective character, keeping the action moving whilst throwing curve balls to his fellow actors to see how they’d handle them.
David Stanier was lovely with his (somewhat interesting) Scottish accent, Edward Easton was pant-wettingly hilarious as the French director (again, another interesting accent!) and Liora Aroil was good fun (with more interesting accents – there’s a theme here!).
The whole cast work excellently together and they are all clearly enjoying their work, which leads the audience to enjoy the show thoroughly. This reviewer looks forward to returning whenever the company come back to Sheffield.
This visit to the Theatre Deli is likely be your reviewer’s last one as the venue is due to close in its currently building in the coming weeks. This will be a sad loss to Sheffield until it finds a new temporary home, but hopefully if The Leadmill continues to programme theatre alongside its range of comedy and music, they may fill some of that gap in the meantime.
Reviewed on 14th May 2024.
