REVIEW: Midnight Murder at Hamlington Hall - Centenary Theatre Group

Midnight Murder at Hamlington Hall

Presented by Centenary Theatre Group

Written by Mark Kilmurry and Jamie Oxenbould

Directed by William McCreery-Rye

There are few things more terrifying in theatre than an opening night disaster. Forgotten lines? Bad. Broken sound? Worse. Seven sick cast members, council reps judging your funding, and a 21st birthday party next door? Community theatre nightmare fuel!

Thankfully, Midnight Murder at Hamlington Hall takes that opening night disaster and wrings every possible laugh from it. Presented by Centenary Theatre Group, this affectionate farce celebrates every theatre volunteer who keeps shows alive, often with no warning, and a slowly unravelling grip on reality.

Written by Mark Kilmurry and Jamie Oxenbould, the play follows the fictional Middling Cove Players, a community theatre troupe very similar to CTG. Their opening night show is supposed to be a classic 1950s whodunnit with all the usual ingredients: a confined country house, mysterious clues, dramatic deaths, and a cast of suspicious characters, because apparently nobody in Britain can just be normal.

Remember the report-and-isolate era? Same... Their cast is sick. The understudies are sick. There are only three actors left, one deeply unwilling stage manager, and one poor “audience member” dragged into the fire. Why? Because the show must go on of course! There are council members watching, funding is on the line, and apparently this is what we do for fun. Or for the distant dream of “actually getting paid to do this thing we call show.” Think The Play That Goes Wrong meets community theatre survival mode.

Act One takes place downstage, in front of the curtain, as the surviving members of the troupe attempt to solve the completely unsolvable. Jonathan Knox is immediately standout as Shane Tweed, the panicked director in a shiny lavender tracksuit, radiating British nicety and suppressed internal collapse. Shane regularly puts his foot in his mouth and somehow manages to be both wildly articulate and deeply unhelpful.

Jill Brocklebank plays leading lady Phillipa “Pip” Chidley, bringing stern presence, many wigs, and a touch of Moira Rose-level theatrical self-importance. Pip has no intention of letting a few missing cast members ruin her moment. In Act One, some of Jill's dialogue feels a little more recited than conversational, but she comes into her own beautifully once the play-within-the-play begins. In Act Two, she is poised, classy and unflappable, holding the collapsing production together through sheer self-belief.

Isaac Tibbs is a comedic whirlwind as Barney Simpson, a founding member of the fictional company and amateur actor (who works at Harvey Norman). Barney is very extra, slightly sleazy, and absolutely believes he is helping in his odd way. Isaac throws himself into the role with excellent physical comedy, panicked quick changes of toupées and jackets, dodgy "improv", excellent accents, and facial expressions that scream, “I have made a terrible mistake.” Watching Barney realise, in real time, that he needs to be in two (or three places) at once is one of the show’s best running gags.

Ashleigh Tibbs is wonderfully dry as Karen, the stage manager whose entire persona says, “I did not sign up for this,” which is ironic given she chose this as her community service. With a nasal Aussie tone, a deadpan stare, and the emotional investment of someone counting the minutes until release, Karen is overworked, unimpressed, and eventually shoved onstage all because she knows the script. I have actually seen that happen to an SM here recently, so I can confirm it’s very plausible! Ash makes Karen deeply funny without ever making her try too hard.

Act One does a lot of useful set-up, though it could move with a sharper sense of panic. With stakes this ridiculous, the chaos needs to feel immediate, and at times the pacing drags because the characters are not quite reacting as though their opening night is actively bursting into flames. The theatre jokes are knowingly on the nose and land funniest if you have spent time backstage. There is still plenty of affectionate cringe here, and when the jokes click, they click with painful recognition.

Then Act Two arrives, the curtain opens, and the whole thing properly detonates. This is where Midnight Murder at Hamlington Hall becomes the glorious mess it promises to be. The murder mystery finally begins, though following the actual plot is almost beside the point. There is a plot (apparently) but it is fighting for its life beneath the real entertainment: the Middling Cove Players desperately trying to survive their own production. Doors slam. Luggage tumbles. Characters vanish. Direction disappears. Quick changes become cardio. Someone gets injured.

The whole cast lifts in Act Two. Paul Toolis is great fun as Richard in Act Two, the planted audience member suddenly promoted to emergency cast member and handed the roles of doctor and solicitor. With his nose buried in the script and the grumpy energy of a man realising he should have stayed home, Richard adds another excellent layer to the collapsing illusion. Meanwhile, Shane (Jonathan Knox) tries to direct from inside his role as the detective, correcting lines, coaching blocking, chasing people on and offstage, and getting increasingly grouchy as the whole thing disintegrates around him. Knox is particularly strong here, somehow maintaining crisp delivery and accents while Shane loses control of the situation in real time.

Isaac as Barney is in his element: jumpy, puffed, overcommitted, and always two seconds away from disaster. His not-so-subtle “corrections” are bloody hilarious to me. And once Barney cops a concussion, the memory loss means he forgets the “safe word”, which is about as helpful as you would expect. As someone who has broken a foot onstage myself, this felt less like farce and more like a flashback. Jill as Pip becomes the eye of the storm, gliding through the chaos with confident calm. Ash as Karen also gets some of the best chaos to manage, especially when her twelve-year-old niece is roped in to run sound and lights. The real lighting and sound work by Brian Hobby and Christian McCreery-Rye is timed beautifully for comedy, with cues landing cleanly enough that the “mistakes” read as deliberate. That is always the trick with a show about things going wrong: the actual production has to be very right.

William McCreery-Rye directs and designs the set, and the curtain reveal is used to great effect. Act One keeps us trapped in front of the stage with the troupe, before Act Two opens up Hamlington Hall and lets the farce properly run wild. Once we are inside the murder mystery, the production gains pace, momentum and plenty of visual payoff, with a set that gives the performers plenty to play with, trip over, misplace, and break. The window gag is a great touch too, with clever projection additions. Costumes by Serena Bardsley are also key to the comedy, especially with Barney’s frantic role-swapping. Never underestimate the comedic value of a bad wig!

Underneath all the silliness, there is a lovely sincerity here. Midnight Murder at Hamlington Hall is a farce, yes, but it is also about community theatre people making it work because they love it. Or because someone has handed them a script and blocked the exit. Either way, they are there. The line “We need the silliness to distract us from life” lands beautifully because that is exactly what this show offers. It knows theatre people are silly. It knows community theatre survives on goodwill, volunteers, and one person doing six jobs. On that note, shout out to the real stage management team, including Hugo Foong and assistant director/stage manager India Charlton, because a show built on fake chaos needs very real control behind it.

Any actual mistakes are impossible to spot in a production designed to look like one giant mistake. By Act Two, the audience around me was laughing so hard people were practically having coughing fits, which feels like a fairly strong endorsement in any demographic. It is a show for anyone who has ever loved theatre, survived theatre, volunteered in theatre, or watched from backstage as a production collapses internally while the cast pretends everything is fine.