Our May Production will be “Death By Design” by Rob Urbinati

 Our May production will be

 “Death By Design”

written by Rob Urbinati

and presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD;

Tim McGill will direct

What happens when you mix the brilliant wit of Noel Coward with the intricate plotting of Agatha Christie …?

Set during a weekend in an English country manor in 1932, Death by Design is a delightful and mysterious “mash-up” of two of the greatest English writers of all time.

Synopsis

The protagonists in Death by Design are a sophisticated and arrogant playwright, Edward Bennett, and his air-headed actress wife, Sorel. London critics have just panned their latest play, and the pair retreat to their country estate to lick their wounds and continue their psychological warfare. They’re quickly joined by a host of guests: a conservative politician, a fiery socialist, a near-sighted ingénue, and a zany modern dancer.  Some are invited and some are not but soon one of them lies lifeless on a sofa.   All the characters have a motive for murder, but it’s left to Bridgit, the feisty Irish maid with a macabre interest in homicide who is in cahoots with a young libertine chauffeur, to solve the crime.

Death by Design is more than homage – it’s a new classic

The Cast

BRIDGIT                                 a maid; Irish, crabby, warm-hearted, fifties
JACK                                         a chauffeur; Cockney, charming, clever, twenties
EDWARD BENNETT         a playwright; urbane, vain, thirties/forties
SOREL BENNETT               an actress; glamorous, daffy, thirties/forties
WALTER PEARCE              a politician; stiff, conservative, thirties/forties
ERIC                                          a radical; emphatic, fiery, twenties
VICTORIA VAN ROTH     a Bohemian; intense, artistic, any age
ALICE                                       a visitor; sweet, shy, twenties

Audition:

Next Sunday, 12th March at 6 pm, Village Hall

Rehearsals:

All at the Village Hall, Sundays provisionally from 6 pm to 9 pm but the Technical and Dress rehearsals will be longer and take up more of the day.  The Director will organise additional rehearsal slots and will promulgate a full programme early in the production.

March:                                      19, 26

Apr:                                          2, 9, 16, 23, 30

May:                                            7 (provisional – as yet unbooked at VH)

Technical Rehearsal:        13 May

Dress Rehearsal:                14 May

Production:                           18, 19, 20 May

Clear Up:                              21 May

This amateur production of “Death by Design” is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD.