Mystery At Greenfingers
Written by: J B Priestley
Directed by: Phil Davis
October 2010
This 'comedy of detection', as Priestley called it, is set in the 1930s in the Greenfingers Palace Hotel on the edge of the Peak District. A small advance party of staff arrive a fortnight early to prepare the hotel for the opening season and find themselves snowbound as the weather takes a turn for the worse, roads become impassable and telephone lines go down.
This, however, does not prevent surprise visitors arriving at the hotel, the first of whom is Mr. Crowther, the hotel company's detective. Mr Crowther is closely followed by the mysterious Miss Tracey who insists on being accommodated at the hotel with her companion, Mrs. Jernigan, who soon disappears - presumably murdered - and leaves Detective Crowther with a cartload of mysteries to solve. Never one to shy away from the task, he immediately sets to work, interrogating and accusing staff members one by one, ingeniously discovering clues, and coming to audaciously clever conclusions - or, at least, so he thinks.
Cast List
Reviews
This intriguing comedy wrapped up in a murder mystery format was cleverly directed by Phil Davis making his debut. The set was extremely effective, presented as a staff room within the hotel and complete with period table and chairs, an old wireless set, travel posters and a message board typical of the pre-war period. Despite much of the action taking place behind and around the table the sight lines were generally good, with no-one being masked or alternatively upstaging other actors. After getting over the shock of such bright blue eye make-up on the women (this could be toned down a lot without loss of eye impact) I settled down to an extremely enjoyable evening.
The cast was a wonderful collection of characters, ranging from flamboyant and emotional French chef, played by Keith Goody, to the solidly reliable amateur female detective, played by Gina Daldry. Add to the mix the incompetent but well-meaning professional (Barry Young) and a sprinkling of hotel staff straight from the book of acting stereotypes and the formula was complete. You would be hard-pressed to find a more engaging pair of housemaids than Linda Raymond's well-meaning but simple Clara or Irene Davis' s sassy but careworn Sally. Gail Hughes played a blinder as the cynical but case-solving book-keeper, Edna Sandars. Her Northern accent was extremely good and her characterization unwavering. Martin Herford's barman on the make, Fred Poole, contrasted well with Liane Pritchard's attractive but ultimately crooked Helen Tennant. Glenys Young came across well as Mrs Heaton, the housekeeper with a secret while Andrew Raymond had the toughest job in some ways, playing the trusted and naive young manager, Keith Henley.
Given how much the play followed a tried and tested formula for a successful parody of a murder mystery I wonder whether it would have worked even better by sending up the characterization a notch more, not too melodramatic but enough to give the over the top characters more context. This would have provided more scope to the French chef, Clara the maid and Fred the barman to enjoy their roles without appearing too caricatured. It would also have allowed Keith Henley to play up the dramatic interventions ("You mean?" and "Drugs?" etc) without seeming to be too demonstrative. Sometimes the blend of characterizations jarred ever so slightly as the audience had to switch from serious mode to comedy mode and back again.
This is not a big criticism and could easily vary from performance to performance.
Overall this was a highly entertaining evening and deserves a successful box office. I congratulate Phil Davis on his directorial debut and look forward to his next production at Blackmore Players.
Stewart Adkins, NODA