The show continues tonight (Saturday) so worth calling 822490 to see whether they have ay spare tickets left. Ed
Quay Arts in Newport can be a quite surprising place. It has an excellent gift shop and it’s a nice place to pop in to while shopping for coffee and a snack. But this week they excelled themselves.
The event I went to was billed as a Murder Mystery Christmas Dinner, which certainly intrigued me, and very quickly a whole group of us decided to make an occasion of it.
Excited anticipation
We assembled at the entrance on a rainy and windswept night. We were then ushered in to the gallery for mulled wine and spent a few minutes discussing what on earth we had signed up for. We noticed one or two things about the gallery that seemed odd, and some of the guests appeared to be behaving in a slightly dubious manner.
I promised not to include any spoilers, so you’ll have to imagine the excitement and mystification we all felt when characters were introduced to us who would obviously become key players in the forthcoming murder. It turned out to be centred around tawdry behaviour and dodgy dealings on a turkey farm. Then we watched a show in the theatre which was funny and far cleverer than it appeared to be, with lots of audience participation. The climax was, of course, the deed itself, done right in front of our eyes in a very clever and subtle way.
Interrogation over supper
During our excellent meal each of the suspects was interrogated by a dubious detective, and we had the opportunity to guess who was the murderer, as well as writing a limerick about it all. This was followed by a disco. Perfect.
The production was written in-house, and included professional actors as well as local amateurs. All performed their parts with enthusiasm and skill, and the clues made perfect sense when revealed. It was a very satisfying evening, full of surprises, and plainly everyone involved worked really hard to make the evening a real pleasure for everyone.
I hope the staff at Quay Arts give us another show next year. I had so much fun I want to book my tickets now.
