‘Murder on the Midnight Ferry’ was written and directed by Kevin Wilson: his first collaboration with Newchurch Drama Group. Kevin’s previous shows, including ‘Wake’, ‘Coach Trip’, ‘ID’ and ‘Fresh Start’ have been staged to great acclaim on the Island and beyond. None of his previous writings however prepared us for the sheer daftness of this one!

Newchurch Drama Group itself has had a bit of a hiatus: this is its first show in the Community Hall since 2019, and the packed hall (all shows were sold out!) showed that the audience were eagerly anticipating the return of their local theatrical troupe.

We were greeted by Joyce (Sarah Rollason) who started the audience participation ball rolling by getting us to sing ‘If I had a boat’….which neatly led into the main part of the show….except it didn’t, because we were watching, it transpired, a rehearsal – and the cast were a bit perplexed as to why an audience had been invited along – led by their director, played by Jenny Manning. Not only that, but the stage wasn’t even set: we witnessed the harassed stage hands – a traditional comic duo well played by Kerry Lawson and Natalie Barker – wrestling with chairs and tables throughout – even when they didn’t need to, to their annoyance.

We were on a ferry bound for the Isle of Wight – and the specially designed ramp which lowered itself perfectly to start the stage action off was a star in its own right, giving us a clear sense of location. We then met two couples, the only passengers on this midnight ferry – or so it appeared. They explained – in between bickering – why they were travelling to our lovely island, before the murder of the captain was announced. Here, and indeed throughout, no opportunity was missed for a local joke.

Enter Detective – not Inspector, as he was at pains to point out – Davis, followed by the intrepid Mrs Marble, both of whom were convinced they could identify the murderer – if they could remember their lines! Steve White dominated the stage as the beleaguered Detective, while Lesley Sutton captured Mrs Marble’s no-nonsense attitude very well, and her later change of character too! Much of the fun came from the interaction of the actors and the director as she struggled to get them to recall where in the play they were…before she finally turned to drink to drown her troubles!

Lotty Lovett (Ros White) turned out to be the dead captain’s cousin – he had arranged for her and her husband Larry (Mark Stewart) to travel on his crossing to celebrate their honeymoon, she explained – but was there a family secret she was hiding that gave her a motive to want him dead? What about Larry – did he have secrets from his wife other than his indulgence in garlic at dinner? Harry and Hatty Hopkins (George Webster and Heather Johnson) claimed they were in bed at the time of the murder – but was their loving devotion to each other genuine? In fact, were any of these people exactly who they seemed? Without spoilers, I can tell you the answer to all the above questions is ‘no’.

The action really hotted up in the last few scenes, where plot twist came on top of plot twist; the stagehands turned out to be police officers; Mrs Marble and the Detective to have been co-conspirators….or perhaps not; the tea to have been poisoned….or not, and the Chief Constable (played on Sunday by Kevin Wilson, in other performances by Alan Johnson) was as confused as anyone – until he was also arrested….

I can see why the author notes: ‘You will have our utmost respect if you can work out what is going on, because …..we still have no idea. Who cares, as long as you have plenty of fun and laughter along the way – and there was indeed lots of laughs in the hall on Sunday.