From our very own Lady Whistledown …

Lights down in the Waddy Centre, Saturday 11th October 2025. There is anticipation in the air for The Impresario’s Players’ latest murder mystery instalment. What will happen over the next two hours? Who knows. These plays have more twists and turns than a packet of original Twisties. Who will Jim Wong be this year? A news reporter? A pizza delivery man? Well, you had to be there to find out…

Lights up. Jim is already dead on the floor. Over the course of the play, characters dead on the floor will come to be a frequent occurrence as seemingly everyone has a chance to spend some time reclining. Of course, Jim is only pretending and is really waiting for it to be break time during the play within a play, so that he can have some well-earned pizza… at first.

This play was well-chosen for its ensemble writing. Everyone had a chance to be featured, and no character was without intrigue or suspicion. Justina shone as the megastar ‘Scarlet May’, portraying a seasoned actress in a beautiful red gown, always a sense of condescension as she generously graced the play with her presence.  Vered, well-known to the Graduate House players, was ever poised and often the voice of reason within the scenes. Ava Greay showed her range as the young Sandy, thrilled to be in her first play but slowly coming to realise it was not exactly turning out as she expected. Wei Ling Teo made her Waddy Centre debut as the dramatic maid, prone to overreaction and delivered many an effective tantrum as her character came to grips with what was going on.

From the get-go it was obvious that many hours of work had gone into the delivery of this play. The actors were challenged with having to repeat the same scene over and over as they re-enacted murder scenes for various newcomers, and there was no sense they were ever going to miss a line or a cue, so secure was the delivery. Brandon Pretorius as the inimitable Richard Green delivered his lines assuredly and with the dignified presence required of his fatherly figure, attempting to placate the other characters to no avail. Simon Homsany, though his appearance was short-lived, was a thoroughly determined method actor, convinced he was not just playing a police officer, but was in fact the law. Jim Wong was, in the first half, the hapless Tom who just wanted a snack, and then delivered some extraordinary lines in the second half, a performance that Mrs Doubtfire would’ve been proud of.

The direction throughout the play was well thought-out, and directors Mahati Garimella and Katherine Rosen should be very proud of what they achieved. To deliver a play within only one setting required clever use of levels and blocking, and this was brilliantly executed by the whole ensemble cast. I really felt for Tin Zar as the stage manager, blamed for everything by director Brett Donahue (Alex Stan) and putting on a brave face regardless. Both Tin and Alex were exceptional additions to the cast this year, embodying their characters and never missing a beat. Hapless police inspectors Sachith and Wenxuan burst onto the set with enthusiasm, quickly showing their ineptitude for the job they were expected to do. Both were very entertaining as they tried to figure out exactly what happened, and rapidly met their unfortunate demise in this play that was quickly turning into a comical blood bath.

As the story unravelled, Mahati arrived on stage adorned in suspenders and moustache, spectacularly southern in delivery and showing her theatrical chops. You would be forgiven for thinking the play was in a state of chaos prior to this point, but we had only begun our journey into the metaverse. Katherine Rosen’s portrayal of the pragmatic Susan brought everyone on track, however to explain the chaos that ensued would do a disservice to the word limit on this review. You simply had to be there.

Ovations all round to the cast and crew of ‘Murder Mystery at the Murder Mystery’. I cannot wait for the next instalment of insane murder mysteries from the Impresario’s Players. 5 stars.

Brianna Morrison, Associate Dean of Graduate House

Cast

• Emoh Justina
• Vered Lalrinpuii
• Ava Greay
• Wei Ling Teo
• Simon Homsany
• Brandon Pretorius
• Tin Zar
• Alex Stan
• Wenxuan Zhang
• Jim Wong Ulrich
• Sachith Anjana
• Katherine Rosen
• Mahati Garimella

Crew

• Anndrya Chua
• Jacinta Nyanchera Onwonga
• Sarah N Sailo

Director

• Katherine Rosen & Mahati Garimella

Playwrite Brian D Taylor