After last year's great success, Adel Players was once again proud to present our annual Murder Mystery entertainment. Penned by our resident thriller writer, Pat Riley, it was performed at the Robert Craven Hall in Bramhope as well as at the Memorial Hall in Adel. Over 160 attended the two events and a grand total of £2012.50 was raised for AWMA as well as additional funds to help renovation work at the the Robert Craven Hall. Thanks to all our loyal supporters for helping make it such a success. See below for pictures and reviews.

Our sincere thanks to Ann and Donna for this review of our Murder Mystery:

The annual murder mystery evening with pie and peas (or vegetarian option) is always well supported and this year was no exception. Written by Adel’s Pat Riley and performed by members of the Adel Players it is a major fund-raiser for the Adel War Memorial Association. The catering was undertaken in Adel by the A.W.M.A.’s Badminton section and in Bramhope by members of their community.

One of the delights of these productions is that snippets of local information are woven into the script – this year the spotlight shining on the Association itself. One wonders how Pat manages to come up with such a great variety of plots set in our locality! To set the scene the audience, gathered on tables of ten, tackled a couple of crime quizzes which helped break the ice as memories were coaxed into action. The compere for the evening was Mike Andrews as the archetypal Northern club host…which he did with aplomb.

As the action unfolded on stage we watched the characters attentively until, just before the interval, the “star” of the show, Electra, was electrocuted – a very dramatic ending to conclude the first half. Over our suppers, we debated who could have committed the murder, why and how. Almost all appeared to have motives. Our answer sheets were collected, the raffle took place and then we found out, via the second part, who the murderer was. All the clues to the correct answer are in the script…so it is perfectly possible to identify the culprit – the winners are the table who list the most clues.

Of course an excellent script isn’t enough to guarantee a good evening – it needs to have a talented cast to make one believe in the characters and the situation they find themselves in. Fortunately Adel Players has no problem in that regard - one felt the play had been written for the actors, the casting was so good.

Dianne Newby played the ageing nightclub singer to perfection – her singing of ‘Send in the Clowns’ and ‘Fever’ was superb.

She was ably supported by Owen Carey Jones as her ex-husband and manager, who was proud of her singing ability and career. Jane Gorton was Electra’s daughter and make-up artist – again, proud to support her mum’s career, but both having their own thoughts and agenda on Electra too.

Andy Sneddon as the younger lover/sound engineer gave a wonderful comedic performance, whilst David Lancaster (press reporter) and Digna Sindin Rodriquez (photographer) added very different characters and dimensions to the plot, linking back to the past, when Electra’s career was at a high point and Electra made her own decisions which suited her, regardless of others.

Alan Foale and Anne Andrews had smaller, but essential, roles in delivering the plot. The play captured our imagination, was extremely entertaining and created much discussion on the tables.

The evening seemed to be over all too quickly….it seems a long time before the next production “Wait until Dark” on 16-19 October, which we are already looking forward to.

Ann Lightman & Donna Shoesmith-Evans