Erin McGathy @ Gilded Balloon, Rose Theatre
This take on a murder mystery is a few clues short of a solution
If Erin McGathy wants a sharp, funny murder mystery for a show, she needs to kill her darlings. In her one-woman hour of character comedy, she plays favourites with her creations, and the pacing and plotting suffer as a result. Certain characters are given far too much stage time without further development, meaning they’re wrung dry of jokes long before a quick costume change relieves us off their presence forever. There are flashes of brilliance to her town matriarch and noir detective, but they could stand to lose a few minutes of dialogue to leave room for plot. She should be prepared to go bigger, rather than longer, to eke out laughs.
What should be a slick, tightly scripted take on a small town murder is bogged down with long monologues, dodgy exposition and an over-reliance on props for characterisation. The murder takes a good while to be announced, and it takes even longer to meet all the suspects. As a result there’s nowhere for the story to go in such a short space of time, and it’s little surprise the drama ends with a twist that was predictable from the off. It’s a shame, as there’s a lot of great jokes – her embittered pastor is a treat – crammed in to a cluttered show.
Erin McGathy: MurderTown (One-Woman Murder Mystery), Gilded Balloon at Rose Theatre (Attic), until 28 Aug (not 14), 4.45pm, £8-10