The Murders in the Rue Morgue + M. R. James: Whistle and Ill Come to You Birmingham Fest 2024 - Review

The Murders in the Rue Morgue + M. R. James: Whistle and Ill Come to You Birmingham Fest 2024 - Review

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Posted 2024-07-13 by dpmfollow

Fri 12 Jul 2024 - Sun 14 Jul 2024

The Murders in the Rue Morgue + M. R. James: Whistle and I’ll Come to You Birmingham Fest 2024 - Review

There are chills and thrills in this double bill of creepiness at the Blue Orange Theatre presented as part of Birmingham Fest.

Both shows are an hour long and presented as two-handers with minimal sets and props – a few chairs, a suitcase and changes of jackets but they work because our imaginations can always thrive on the suggestion of horror and fear.

They are also dependent on great stories and the team has chosen well with Edgar Allan Poe’s bizarre Murders at the Rue Morgue and M R James’ sinister Whistle and I’ll Come to You. And finally they need good story-telling which Alan Groucott and James Nicholas deliver consistently across both shows.




The Murders in the Rue Morgue sees Groucott taking the principal role as C Auguste Dupin, a dapper Frenchman who, when the police draw a blank after the brutal murder of two women in their apartment in the Rue Morgue in Paris, decides to do a bit of sleuthing himself.

In the true tradition of the independent detective, Dupin manages to figure out the most unexpected of culprit and motive with seeming ease, using a touch of duplicity and dogged determination to discover the truth.

In Whistle and I’ll Come to You, the lead baton is passed over to James Nicholas who this time plays the recently bereaved Professor Parkins who heads off to the seaside town of Burnstow to research the remains of a former Knights Templar church. When he discovers an inscribed whistle in the ruins, he also brings alive a mysterious spectre who has his sights set on Parkins.

The production makes potent use of sound effects to put us all on edge during the night scenes in which both Parkins and the audience are waiting to see what is going to happen next. And in the intimate surroundings of the Blue Orange Theatre, you can’t help but be nervous of the next bump.



Both stories have been well adapted to the stage with a creative team also including Mark Webster and Oliver Hume. Groucott and Nicholas easily swap roles so they also take on the parts of innkeepers, witnesses and colleagues ensuring both tales are more multi-faceted than a simple narration.

In these versions, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Whistle and I’ll Come to You come alive and prove that you don’t always need lots of sets and special effects to produce effective story-telling.

The shows form part of this year’s Brum Fest which brings together drama, comedy, improv, music and dance across venues in the city. For more information on the full programme see here.

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290187 - 2024-07-13 09:44:50

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