Megan Kingsbury

For Pencaitland Primary School's P7 class end of school show in 2018, my Dad - their teacher - allowed me to write an original piece for them to perform. I came into school to talk to the pupils and get ideas from them about what they would like to include in their show and pulling all ideas together I created a one and a half hour long murder mystery farce that was performed to the pupils, teachers and the parents (200 odd).

There were 17 characters all together, some exceptionally small parts and some much bigger parts but it was done with the intention that every person in the class would have time on stage. Normally that many characters would be a crazy amount to have, and rightly so it took me the best part of 4-6 months to pull together and write. The characters were written lightly to not only embody the comedy/farce aspect but so that certain aspects of the humour could reach many different age groups.

The stage layout and the story structure is very simple and easy to follow, and that was done with the intention that there were going to be a lot of characters and alabis that the audience would have to work with. All in all, when the play was produced on stage the audience reacted really well to the quirks and jokes and the pupils all enjoyed themselves in their roles.

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The Plot

Lord and Lady Macrae are hosting a dinner party with a few of their important high up aquaintences, however, after a tip off from the cook that one of the guests was not who he said he was, the butler discovers that there is a dead man in their linen cupboard. Summoning the great Inspector Otto Muerte and his sidekick Gilbert, the night of mysteries and twisted games begin as sides play their cards.

Only one question remains...

Who Dunnit?