Photos by Janice Peters
There’s a play opening this weekend on the Central Coast that carries the tagline “Murder is no laughing matter.”
Well, beg to differ. The Butler Did It manages to provoke laughter, and lots of it, both before and after the dastardly deed we witness on the small Morro Bay stage where By the Sea Productions routinely produces some of the most satisfying local amateur theatre.
Indeed, the murder itself doesn’t happen until well into the production, after we are introduced to a cast of comical characters who could make Agatha Christie blush. Obviously the “who” (victim and perpetrator) takes a backseat to figuring out the “why” in this amusing two-hour-with-one-intermission search for audience giggles.
There’s no sense analyzing the shenanigans that pass for the plot of ‘The Butler Did It,’ and that’s all to the good.”
As you might guess, this whodunit (written by the prolific playwright Tim Kelly, who specialized in amateur theatricals) is all about landing the punchlines, and under Samvel Gottlieb’s inventive direction, the ensemble cast does just that, over and over again, in richly melodramatic turns.
Laura Richie cackles along beautifully as Miss Maple, the catalyst who brings this group of Ten Little Indians . . . oops, sorry, wrong mystery! . . . this group of strangers together at “Ravenswood Manor on Turkey Island off the coast of San Francisco” on a dark and stormy night. Speaking of which, kudos to tech operator Charley Cheney and to Gottlieb for providing great lighting and sound design. It’s some of the best work I’ve seen from this company.
Melissa Karas also deserves an award for her costuming, which enhances, and in its own way parodies, the stock characters—each sports color and personality accents that evoke comparisons to the Clue franchise.
Resplendent in red accoutrements, Wren Hall plays Louie Fan as exotic and ridiculous at the same time; Tim Linzey as Father White emotes hysterically (in both senses of the word); a suave Rick Bruce and an adroit Kira Dobson play an upscale couple with a surprisingly frisky lapdog (who, while perhaps not integral to the mystery is still a delightful addition to the cast list).
Landen Scott as the swaggering sleuth Chandler Marlowe and Christian Henry as the Sherlock-wannabe Peter Flimsey embrace their gumshoe parts wholeheartedly—the former spouting hard-boiled detective lingo while chewing on a toothpick, the latter sporting a deerstalker hat and using a magnifying glass while doing his best to detect.
Jenn Beck as Haversham, the maid who opens the show preparing Ravenswood Manor for the party that brings our hapless bunch together, is ridiculously funny from her first moment on stage.
An elegant Amanda Robinson as a late arrival (by helicopter, no less!) and Nicki Butler, smart and convincing as Rita, add nuance and timing to the play’s broad comedy.
There’s no sense analyzing the shenanigans that pass for the plot of The Butler Did It, and that’s all to the good.
Take a seat in the audience, leave your analytical brain at home, and sit back to enjoy a good belly-laugh, a bunch of giggles, and the good feeling that comes with watching a comedic mystery well-played. The show runs through August 9.