The Cat and the Canary at The Alexandra, Birmingham - Review
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Mon 04 Oct 2021 - Sat 09 Oct 2021
As the wet weather lashed the windows outside the theatre, there was a thunderstorm crackling inside too with this wonderfully creepy murder mystery.
The Cat and the Canary has all the essential ingredients of a classic who-dunnit - isolated country house, group of eccentric suspects, thunder and lightning and a killer on the loose.
Similar to Agatha Christie's
The Mousetrap but more exciting and scary in places, plus a lot more comedy - but it is based on a story once filmed with Bob Hope in his heyday.
At
Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre for a week until the evening of Saturday October 9, this production from The Classic Thriller Theatre Company has their usual cast of familiar TV faces.
There's a bit more razzle-dazzle this time around with one-time
Bond girl Britt Ekland alongside Anthony Costa from pop band
Blue, Tracy Shaw of
Coronation Street fame and Gary Webster from
Minder. There's even Marti Webb and ex
Soldier Soldieractor Ben Nealon, a regular in the Company's murder mysteries.
Ekland is unrecognisable as a dowdy, eccentric old housekeeper until she speaks in her distinctive Swedish accent. It's Tracy Shaw though who stands out with a fine performance as the young woman at the centre of the plot.
The storyline sees a motley crew gather for the reading of a will in a remote mansion on the edge of a moor. The house was a bit mistier than normal as someone left the smoke machine switched on for the first few minutes of the show, but the experienced cast didn't show any hesitation, ploughing through the bearly visible stage.
It quickly emerges that only one of them will inherit but the other relatives have a chance if they are declared mad. That's when things start going bump in the night with an escapee from an asylum on the loose and all kinds of strange tales and backstories emerging, but who can you really trust?
The play has a good pace, the professional actors are slick and there's always a chuckle around the corner plus an unpredictable ending.
Yes, it's a cliche, but it's exactly what it says on the tin and for those looking to cosy up to a good old fashioned murder mystery, you won't be disappointed.
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!date 04/10/2021 -- 09/10/2021
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70503 - 2023-01-26 01:47:22