Welcome to Murder Village. Population: decreasing…
The year is 1953 and Detective Inspector Owen Gullet is charged with solving all the murders that take place in his little village. Per capita, there seems to be rather a lot more than you’d expect. It’s certainly not easy being the only police officer in the village, and he could do with a little support. Thankfully there’s always a friend, visitor or busy-body nearby who has a nose for clues and far better instincts than the oblivious D.I.
Read on to learn more about the Murder Village show and its history.
WHAT IS AN IMPROVISED WHODUNNIT?
Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit is a comedic off-the-cuff mystery created by skilled improvisers with years of training.
The hilarious format is a chance for lovers of crime fiction to immerse themselves in a world of English villages, red herrings and suspicious characters. For an hour, audiences will live inside an Agatha Christie novel they’ve never read, populated by vicars, retired generals, amateur dramatic society members and whipsmart elderly ladies with a knack for solving murders.
While the clever cast devise the characters that call the village home in advance, each night’s show is made up on the spot. To get things started, the audience votes for the show’s victim and murderer by secret ballot as they enter the theatre - that way, murder mystery afficiandos get to have their say on the outcome while still enjoying the chance to try to solve the crime themselves. Additional key items - such as the dastardly murder weapon and the crime’s tell-tale clue - are supplied mere moments before the mystery begins, with the cast incorporating them into the improvised narrative seamlessly.
And that cast is made up from some of the best improvisers in Melbourne. With performers hailing from from popular groups The Big HOO-HAA! Melbourne, Impro Melbourne and Impromptunes, Christie’s newest work is in good hands.
The History of Murder Village
Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit was developed and directed by David Massingham for a 2016 debut season in Brisbane with ImproMafia (now Improv Queensland). The format sprung from another show Massingham devised with ImproMafia, Agatha Holmes, which ran from 2009 to 2014.
The 2016 Brisbane season was staged at a unique venue, the Spring Hill Reservoir. This underground space, with its stone archways and thrust theatre stage, had a evocative atmosphere that proved perfect for an improvised whodunnit. Audiences agreed, with the full season and a hastily-booked extra show all selling out. Reviews were likewise positive, with The Creative Issue branding it, “Hilarious” and “Imaginative”, while Scenestr remarked, “We shouldn’t be enjoying murder so much”.
After relocating to Melbourne, Massingham was keen to revisit the format and Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit made its Melbourne at the 2018 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Starring a brand new cast and playing at the Fringe Hub venue Arts House, this season sold out its run and was branded, “The perfect recipe for murder” by Weekend Notes. Pop Culture-y meanwhile said it was, “Highly recommended - silly, clever, unexpected, the audience was glued to their seats for the whole 60 minutes.”
The team reconvened for a sell-out Melbourne Comedy Festival debut in 2019 - complete with extra show - and followed it up with another hugely successful Melbourne Fringe Festival run the same year. Reviews continued their positive trends: My Melbourne Arts promised, “You can bet your life that seeing Murder Village will be the perfect show to end your evening”; The Plus Ones wrote, “A laugh-out-loud, rollicking good show; who knew murder could be so entertaining?”; and Theatre People awarded the show a sharp ★★★★★.
Following the Fringe 2019 run, the Murder Village ensemble found their regular Melbourne comedy home - The Butterfly Club. Performing the final Saturday night of each month from October 2019 onwards, the team were thankful for five more shows with full houses and enthusiastic crowds.
In 2020… well, we don’t talk about 2020.
The sleepy hamlet of Murder Village woke from its dormancy in February 2021 for more shows at The Butterfly Club… and a brand new sell-out Melbourne Comedy Festival season (with extra shows due to popular demand)! With lockdown life enveloping Melbourne for most of the rest of 2021, we returned for good in January 2022 with our regular monthly show and then hugely popular Melbourne Comedy Festival and Fringe Festival runs, smashing previous sales records.
2022 also saw Murder Village visit Sydney for the first time, playing at the Youth Hub at Sydney Fringe. The season was a huge success, with Murder Village scoring a nomination for Best Comedy, and a big win with the Meraki Art Bar Remount Award.
2023 arrived and with it another sold-out run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which was quickly followed by a sold-out season in the city where it all began - Brisbane. It was during this 2023 Brisbane Comedy Festival stint, fittingly, that Murder Village reached its 100th show. The second century awaits…
Following another successful Melbourne Fringe season in 2023, Murder Village announced that its debut seasons in both Perth and Adelaide were scheduled for 2024… and sure enough, both runs ended up selling out. With many more shows and seasons on the horizon, including the inpending Melbourne and Brisbane Comedy Festivals, there’s no better place for you and your amateur sleuth friends to visit than… MURDER VILLAGE.
Detective Inspector Owen Gullet (David Massingham), Murder Village’s finest (well, only) law enforcement officer. Some say he’s hopelessly incompetant; he says he’s only a tiny little bit incompetant.
The Brisbane cast from the 2016 season, clockwise from left: Siobhan Finniss as street scamp Hadley Page, Kris Anderson on keys, Amy Currie as elderly sleuth Miss Enid Purser, Natalie Bochenski as tea shoppe owner Felicity Overall, Jim Reynolds as Brigadier Harrison Wilson, Tom Dunstan as theatre director Anthony Thwacker, David Massingham as D.I. Gullet, Wade Robinson as Dr St-John Younghusband, and Leanne Shellshear as gossip columnist (and the show’s very first murderer) Violet Haberdashery. Photo by Kris Anderson.
Some of the cast during the debut Melbourne season in 2018. From left to right, Sophie Kneebone as fading screen starlet Edith Parnelle, Jason Geary as the ill-fated mortician Hans Foottee, Louisa Fitzhardinge as wealthy tea heiress Lady Agapanthus Grey, Jaron Why as keyboardist and gutter snipe Terrence Mudwater Jr, David Massingham as D.I. Gullet, Cameron Neill as blind postmaster Graham Swift, and Amberly Cull as the Village’s cleverest spinster, Miss Jemima Marmalade.
Most of the cast of Murder Village’s award-winning Sydney Fringe season in September 2022. From left to right: Amanda Buckley as gossip-mongering journalist June Lily Napkins, Louisa Fitzhardinge as naive stablehand Lesley McBridle, Jason Geary as the arguably ineffective Dr Maxwell Doctor, M.D., Lliam Amor as celebrated French detective Monsieur Aragon Pewter, Nick Harriot as musical academic Professor Alistair Fernsby, David Massingham as the hapless Detective Inspector Owen Gullet, and Jim Fishwick as ghastly cad (and soon to be murdered) Jeremy Blythe.
The cast of Murder Village’s 2023 Brisbane Comedy Festival season, seen here after Colonel Oliver Redgrave was throttled by a tiger rug in part of an elaborately crafted murder orchestrated by the village librarian. Our first Brisbane shows in seven years, this season saw Murder Village hit 100 mysteries improvised.