Reviewed by Dave Smith
October 2011
Daw Park Players showed their support for local writers by presenting South Australian playwright Tom Vaughan’s Murder with Imagination as their October production.
It’s a murder mystery with touches of comedy and tension. The good-sized audience in the functional SPF Hall at the Repat Hospital were attentive and appreciative of the action as it unfolded. While Act 1 was a little slow to establish the characters and their potential motives, the pace definitely picked up after interval as the threads of the plot drew together.
Director Robert Reid kept the action going within the small, solid and functional box set of a room in author Steven Scrivens’ house.
As with many such mysteries, several of the characters gave us reason to suspect them of the murder, and the play successfully evoked those suspicions piece by piece.
Nick Buckland was a strong, natural central character who sustained Scrivens’ energy and credibility, along with a clear sense of comedy when required, especially in Act 2. He did well to draw out the issue of the writer’s imagination and its importance to the plot.
Carina Gun as (the late) Angela Devine and Imogen Ashton presented those characters well, and Lexie Dryden had some good moments as Anita Reid.
Andrew Carr brought energy and strength of purpose to the role of Al Lupino, along with the required American brashness.
Rounding out the cast were Cherylene O’Brien and Bryne Nickolls as police inspectors.
Daw Park Players have continued for over thirty years to combine their promotion of community theatre with a generous contribution to the hospital.
