Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit

Overview

Whether you've been watching A Haunting in Venice in cinemas, Death and Other Details on streaming or The Mousetrap on the stage, murder-mysteries are rarely hard to find in Brisbane — fictional ones, of course, and purely for entertainment purposes. Accordingly, even if you're frequently sleuthing through the genre's very best, you might be feeling like you've seen every whodunnit ever.

Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit is a cure for that sensation. In fact, even if you've seen it before — it debuted in Brisbane in 2016 — you haven't seen it before. Given that everything is made up on the night at each show by creator, director and star David Massingham and his cast, this production really isn't ever the same twice.

It still takes its cues from Agatha Christie, however, just like it's one of the prolific author's 1950s novels. And, as the title makes plain, it all happens in a village where anyone could've gotten murderous.

From there, the audience helps suggests where things go — and the show's actors react. You can see the results at the 2024 Brisbane Comedy Festival across Thursday, May 9–Sunday, May 12.

Top image: Mark Gambino.