‘This slapstick classic thriller is must-see at historic city theatre in Nottingham'

Nottingham’s highly anticipated Classic Thriller Season is upon us.

The annual crime thriller series aims to thrill, delight and entertain hundreds of crime thriller fans over the course of August.

The first of three plays which is showing at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall is Death By Fatal Murder.

This is hands down my favourite genre and over the years I have come to eagerly mark off the days in the run-up to opening night.

The clue is in the title of what to expect on the evening, ‘death by fatal murder’ - puns, malapropisms galore paving the way for a raucous evening of top notch entertainment.

The lovable yet dim Inspector Pratt has many qualities, alas crime detection not being one of them.

Chaos and confusion may be his best friends, however he has a heart of gold as he goes about trying to solve crimes.

We are thrust straight into murderous action within the first few seconds of the play when Nancy Allwright (Sarah Wynne Kordas) discovers a crumpled dead body in her living room.

One hell of a blood curdling scream from the otherwise sanguine Nancy sets the scene for murderous mayhem that unfolds over two delightful hours.

A stellar cast will have you chuckling, from the well meaning Constable Thomkins whose bottomless patience with a silly boss knows no end, to Miss Maple whose namesake shows the writer likes to have fun with the genre.

You just know you’re going to bellow with laughter when Italian gigolo Enzo (Jeremy Lloyd Thomas) and Welsh clairvoyant Blodwyn Morgan (Susan Earnshaw) appear on the stage.

One of the night’s shining stars is Mark Pearce, whose impeccable comic timing had me chuckling into my Galaxy Minstrels.

I had a little difficulty keeping up with the grand unveiling of the central plot (no spoilers), but that all came together in the final five minutes of the play.

I am already looking forward to the second play in the series and can think of no better place to be - supporting local theatre and the creative industry is just a bonus.

Death By Fatal Murder by Peter Gordon has been brought to the stage by arrangement with Josef Weinberger.

It is the first of three plays showing at Theatre Royal.

You can watch Death By Fatal Murder until Saturday, August 16.

Location: Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall, Theatre Square, Nottingham NG1 5ND

For more information click here: trch.co.uk