The Pub Murder Mystery – By
Sean Dooley
The
landlord has called all his staff together for a meeting to discuss the future
of the pub. On the agenda are things such as an increase in prices, the quality
of the food, the cleanliness of the rooms and an idea to re-develop the bar
area to make it more sociable. It seems set to be a night of business, but soon
the business turns to murder…
Customer
Taster for Pub Mystery
Overview
Pub
Mystery is a Murder Mystery designed to be played by 8 participants as a ‘Dinner Party’ mystery. It could even
be played and improvised by actors in front of a small audience at a larger
party (for which different preparation is needed – see ‘Running the Script in
Front of an Audience’). It is assumed that ‘the organizer’ will also be a participant, playing one of the characters –
hence the solution is disguised by a substitution cipher, so as to avoid the
organizer knowing the murder’s identity in advance of the event!
This
murder mystery is designed to give you the experience of a murder mystery
without too much acting, costumes or preparation. It is designed to take place
over about an hour and can be transported to any sociable place – for example,
a pub.
It
has eight characters and although some are of specified gender, this can be
easily adapted for your requirements.
It
runs in five stages each lasting approximately 10 -15 minutes. The organizer
must first print the role packs and cut out and fold (or put into envelopes)
each of the characters’ specific stage information (the final page of each roll
pack). At each stage, the organizer must hand out the pieces of information to
the appropriate people.
Each
stage should have about 10 – 15 minutes of discussion time during which
characters can talk amongst themselves to find out different pieces of
information. There is no set order for how this is done so as to allow for
improvisation and sociability. Try to keep to the relatively short time periods
so as to maintain pace.
Neither
the victim nor the murderer know their role in the evening’s proceedings, so anything
can happen. To this end, the person who does die should remain in the evening posthumously
trying to discover who did the deed and, since the murderer could be anyone,
guests are invited to suspect themselves as well as other people!
It
is suggested that a time be identified in advance (say one hour from beginning)
at which point each guest needs to identify their suspect (with reasons). The
final ‘solutions’
page can
then be de-coded to reveal the actual murderer!
Characters
Landlord – The Landlord of the pub.
Deals with the financial side of the pub, advertising, and promotion. Married
to Landlady.
Landlady – Landlord’s wife – Deals
with administration, public relations and staff.
Barmaid – A graduate in her early
20s who dislikes working at the pub but has to make money somehow.
Barman – In his mid 20s,
miserably single, and has an eye for the barmaid.
Trainee – An A-level student who
works at the pub but doesn’t really have the knack for it yet.
Chef – A fiery Australian
woman whose culinary skills have been somewhat limited by the pub’s
understocked kitchen.
Brewery Rep – Head of the local
Brewery. In his late 40s. Knows the landlord from his school days.
Regular – A regular customer at
the bar. Appalled by what he perceives to be dropping standards, he insisted on
being at the meeting.
Structure
The full murder mystery
pack contains –
*The
organizer’s overview
*One
‘role pack’ for each character (to
be distributed to the individual characters before the event)
*The
Post-mortem (to be read during the event)
*The
Solution (to be revealed at the end of the event)
The Role
Packs
Each role pack in the
full pack contains:
*A
brief overview (including all the characters and the background)
*A
character briefing for the individual character.
*That
individual character’s reactions to the events of the evening.
The
first two sections of the roll pack can be distributed before the event; for a ‘dinner party’ event, the third section
needs to be cut into individual parts which are handed-out during the event.
Running the
script for a ‘dinner party murder mystery’
Distribute the relevant
role pack to each player
This
can be done prior to the event, in order to give characters time to digest
their brief and, if desired, to find an appropriate costume. Ideally, the
distribution would be done without the organizer being tempted to read the
packs! (For example, the individual files could be distributed, or a trusted
third party could print them and distribute an envelope to each participant).
Interaction – The participants should
mingle, get into character, and make small talk for 10-15 minutes. Drinks could
be served at this time.
Arguments – Once everyone has done
enough socializing and (hopefully) settled into their characters, the organizer
should ask them to read the next piece of information from their role packs –
which will inform them that they have an argument with another character! They
should spend the next 10-15 minutes making this animosity known, gossiping
behind each other’s backs for added drama.
If
the timing is appropriate, the main meal could be served here – in case anyone
loses their appetite after one of their number dies…
An Untimely Death – Suddenly... seems to
have a heart attack, spasms and dies! This is announced by the organizer (and
the participant playing… may well choose to join in if he/she is good sport). The
other participants all reveal their reasons for disliking… (supplied in the
role packs). The participant playing… can come out of character and join the
rest of the characters in speculating who the murderer might be!
The Post-mortem Report – The post-mortem report
may be read by the organizer or may have been printed and distributed amongst the
guests’ role packs for them to read. Participants are encouraged to gossip some
more if this new information raises their suspicions about any of the others!
Interrogation – The organizer should
announce that it is time to interrogate the suspects. Questioning should start
with asking where they were at the time of the murder (answers to this question
has been supplied in the role packs) and then each character should be given up
to five minutes’ worth of questions.
Accusations – At the end of the
interrogation (when all relevant information has been disclosed), each
participant should write down who they think is the murderer, and why; then
explain their solutions to the other players. (Writing down the accusations
first prevents one accuser from influencing the rest!)
Solution – Print, decode and read
(aloud!) the solution sheet. The participants could decode it themselves if
they wish1 Award a prize to the best solution (whether anyone guessed right or
not!)
Running the
script in front of an audience
Note for performance in
front of an audience, you need to purchase a performance license from the
Murder Mysteries page of the Lazy Bee Scripts web site.
Preparation
Initial
preparation can be done using the dinner party format. (It’s fun! Why not?) After
that, the cast need to work on their characters, rehearse reactions to each
other’s banter, and get comfortable with the improvised format.
Decide
whether the audience should be invited to join the interrogation. If so, then
consider –
*Developing
more detailed ‘background
briefs’ for
each character, elaborating background, but not changing any of the plot
points. This allows actors to accommodate the more irrelevant questions from
the audience!
*Developing
get-out strategies so that an irrelevant line of questioning can be curtailed.
(This can, for example, be direct: “that has no bearing on this case”. Jokey: “I couldn’t possibly
answer that without my lawyer present” or via an interruption which introduces a new line of
questioning from the character brief.
*Giving
‘seed
questions’ to
the audience by the way of selected information from the background briefs.
(This could be done as ‘hearsay’
‘briefs’,
or ‘polite lines of enquiry’.) Create ‘accusation sheets’ for the audience to write out their guesses. Decide on the
format for declaring the solution.
Open the evening by
mingling with guests and acting out improvised scenes.
This
could be done with a meet-and-greet beforehand and a single scene in which
everything happens, or split up to accommodate a meal for the guests!
Circulate one or more
copies of the post-mortem report
As
before, this could be read aloud by a member of the cast or handed out for the audience
to read themselves.
Interrogation
Either
the players interrogate each other, or the interrogation is opened up to the audience.
If the latter, then it is the responsibility of the players to ensure all the
relevant information is disclosed.
Accusations
At
the end of the interrogation (when all the relevant information has been
disclosed), each member of the audience should be asked to write down who they
think is the murderer, and why. The solutions should be collected, read and
graded by the cast.
Solution
Read
out some of the (more bizarre) audience solutions. Declare the solution. (For
example, a detective – an additional actor – could use the material from the
solution sheet, and the cast use the material from the solution sheet or the
murderer could be asked to stand forward and explain themselves. Award a prize
to the best solution! (And possibly a prize for the worst.)
Sample of a
Character Brief
The
Landlord met the Landlady 31 years ago at catering
college. They have been married for 25 years and have been running this pub together
for 21 years. He deals with all the financial transactions, advertising and
promotional events.
Arguments
You,
the Landlord, are angry that the brewery never delivers
on time.
An Untimely
Death
…
has died, and you are not sorry… was driving away business by… abusing… and was
also trying to…
Post-Mortem
Once
you have either read or been told the verdict of the post-mortem report,
consider who you are beginning to suspect may have done the deed.
Interrogation
The
rest of the group will now question you. Answer their questions however you
like, but when they ask where you were at the time of the murder, you must
answer that you were checking the books in the office.
No comments:
Post a Comment