Murder On The Wireless

For a real quirky old-timey throwback, look no further than Murder On The Wireless. Mark Kilmurry is the writer/adapter/director and a lead of the ensemble. He’s also the Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre, so this show must be like a dear child to him. Big accolades for him and this joyful tribute to the radio plays of times gone.

The audience is welcomed to the Ensemble Broadcasting Corporation by the host, Mark Kilmurry. With customary charisma and a lit cigarette, he welcomes the audience to 1959, a world of radio drama. Much of the excitement and novelty from the night (and enjoyment for the performers) is in the analogue creation of sound effects that would seduce listeners’ senses into believing the story. The door slamming would be performed by a little door contraption in the studio, a violin being placed on the floor would twangle strings clumsily, someone sitting down would be signalled by the light scrunching of a cushion against a microphone. Such are the treats that the Foley artist (sound effect artist), portrayed masterfully by Katie Fitchett, offer a generous crowd ready for a good time. 

The Ensemble Broadcasting Corporation will perform a double bill: The Solitary Cyclist (Arthur Conan Doyle, adaption by Mark Kilmurry) and The Dead(ly) Wives Club (Kilmurry). At the same time there are worlds of difference and worlds of similarities between the two. They are peas in a pod, both full of humour, intrigue, and old-worldy parlance and craic. In The Solitary Cyclist, Holmes (Mark Kilmurry) and Watson (Daniel Mitchell) embark on the curious case of who is following their cyclist client, the graceful beauty Miss Violet Smith (Georgie Parker). Swapping hats and voices, they breeze through different menacing characters and create a real whodunnit in front of our eyes (with Fitchett the Foley artist doing the same for our ears). In The Dead(ly) Wives Club, things take a turn for the melodramatic, and Kilmurry as Ridley Jones teams up with Georgie Parker as Teresa Scott, the once-married, famous inspector duo. The client and antagonists are played by a wily and really very funny Daniel Mitchell.

All in all the night is a great laugh, with well-seasoned performers doing something fun and not often (if ever) seen on stage. The very grain of the piece is nostalgic, and the novelty of the sound artistry from Daryl Wallis is wonderful. It’s a tad long in the middle, but this is due to the lack of physical, movement-based action that theatre-goers are used to. And while it’s unfamiliar, it’s superbly put together. The set design is stunning (furniture construction by Simon Greer) and the costume design (Genevieve Graham) really sets the aesthetic. You know what you’re in for when you enter: nostalgia, something different, and a great time.

Hats off to Kilmurry – this zany project of bygone times is anything but elementary.