A play by the acclaimed writer Torben Bretts, Murder at Midnight takes the audience through a flashback of a surprisingly witty and twisted crime scene. It follows in the footsteps of the successful play Murder in the Dark, written and produced by the same team.  It is categorised as a comedy thriller, but had more comedy and family drama than the promised twists and thrills. Albeit, it is a tough line to walk with an intriguing intersection of two opposing genres.

The play follows a cast of highly eccentric characters. Our main character is Jonny, ‘The Cyclops’, a drug dealing gangster on his way to Barbados with his girlfriend. He is accompanied by his strange sidekick who is never named, but plays a more important role than one would guess. There is also Jonny’s mother, Shirley, who has heavily implied schizophrenia, and her nervous Romanian nurse. Jonny’s apparent relationship with girlfriend Lisa is something we only find out about in the second part and she inexplicably has her own room in his house. Lisa brings home a man from a New Year’s Eve party who is revealed early on to be an undercover police officer. And lastly, we have an anxious burglar in a clown mask who only appears for a short duration and is disposed of way before the eventual climax.

While the plot of the play was rather vague and unclear throughout, most of the dialogue was devoted to comedic one-liners and building up drama within the set of the house, instead of building up suspense for the triple homicide looming over the play. All the thrill of the play awaits the audience at the end, strangely enough, after the midnight mark. It all unfolds in a light action-packed sequence just a few minutes before the curtain call. The climax and denouement were all in one. Phrasing it like Lisa’s catchphrase in the play: ‘Do you know what I mean when I say that?’

However, the play’s set was commendable and quite well done with three rooms of a house arranged in an asymmetrical manner at different elevations all in one frame. It served as a visually appealing and cohesive setting for the content of the play. The ground floor living room, with the backdrop of Christmas decorations to fit the context of new year’s eve, was the scene of the crime and the main stage for all the characters. The first floor office was dedicated to Jonny, acting as a space that reflected his character as a gangster. Similarly, the second floor bedroom was dedicated to Lisa — messy, haphazard and colourful — highlighting her personality. The breakup of dialogue and scenes among the rooms was just the right amount of chaos — easy to follow and highly entertaining.

Another redeeming quality of the play was the actors, all delivering their roles outstandingly. Katie McGlynn’s performance as Lisa is incredibly seamless making you almost miss the inconsistency of her character, who does a complete turn around on her confident and assertive traits once her relation to Jonny is (quite abruptly) revealed. Susie Blake and Jason Durr’s rapport as mother and son could make you forget the upcoming murders. Callum Balmforth, who plays Russell, deserves more time on stage. Peter Moreton’s character was possibly the most on-point for the show’s theme, yet was only given the name ‘Trainwreck’ in the cast list.

Overall, I found Murder at Midnight to be an interesting production, with a fantastic set and cast of actors, but a subpar plot with unrealised potential.

Rating: 3/5