A group of very experienced actors from a range of Island theatre groups came together to perform this comedy thriller in support of Shanklin Theatre. The first credit must therefore go to Vic Farrow who assembled the actors and initiated the process of bringing ‘Out of Sight, Out of Murder’ to the stage.

And the stage is the first thing to impress as the curtains part to reveal designer Steve White’s very atmospheric set: although a traditional ‘box set’ often used for one-set domestic plays, a lot of care has clearly gone into its presentation: the dark wood stair balustrades, the pictures on the walls and the wood panelling all speak of an old – possibly creepy – manor house, where we see Peter Knight busily writing – or trying to. His writing desk and laptop are tucked away in an upstage corner, which neatly separates his ‘reality’ from what was to come.

We then meet fussy housekeeper Minna: this is a smaller role but vitally bookends the play, representing Peter’s – sometimes tenuous – hold on to real life, and Denise Farrow played her with conviction, especially in the scene where her character ‘can’t see’ the other people on the stage. A difficult trick – but Denise pulled it off admirably.

After Minna leaves, Peter sits down again to write….and then the most amazing thing happens – unless you happen to be a writer that is, when you’ll know very well the feeling that your characters are coming to life around you and choosing for themselves how the story pans out. And that is exactly what Peter’s characters start to do….

I loved the part where Peter is speaking his description aloud as he types, and Lydia appears on the stairs, obeying his words as if they are her instructions….if only Peter had managed to retain control…

Each character is an easily recognised trope from the thriller/crime novel genre, which adds to the comedy. A mention must be made here of the costume department, as each character’s outfit – outfits in some cases – perfectly embodies who they are: the minute they walk onstage you recognise the stereotype.

Lydia is the classic sultry, dissatisfied vamp, played perfectly by Lorna Wilson. I loved the scene when she realised that as her husband had just been murdered, her character should be in tears – so she dutifully produced a handkerchief and acted out weeping – and it takes acting ability to deliberately act unconvincingly.

Meg West’s character Kay is the typical young naïve heroine who, as she knew, normally ends up with the hero: she was suitably bright and ditsy – the problem was that she was less interested in the hero than in the author, which brought into play a love triangle subplot – again, a trope of thrillers, but not usually involving the writer themselves. Meg’s acting ability shone through at the end when she played a very different character….

The narcissistic, dashing hero Dick was played with aplomb by Duncan Greaves: his natural assumption that he would walk off with the heroine and the money was delightfully comic, as was his ending, which got a huge laugh…

Every crime novel has its older lady, often a spinster, usually calm in a crisis and always sensible: Chrissie Blow’s Fiona fitted the bill beautifully. With her rather strange knitting – a jumper for an octopus perhaps?? – Chrissie embodied the stereotype perfectly.

Steve Watts portrayed the under-estimated butler Cogburn. Under-estimated as a character that is – there was nothing diminished about the performance. From the moment he appeared, the very model of the subservient butler who you just knew felt himself superior to all the upper class characters, and ruled with a rod of iron below stairs, Steve had great stage presence, and came into his own towards the end.

Even the smaller roles were filled by experienced and very talented actors: Alexis Mackness was hilariously convincing as the nervous, vulnerable Addie the maid – her ‘Of course I’m pregnant – I’m always pregnant’ heralded the gradual realisation that these characters had appeared in – worked for, as they put it – numerous other works of literature, ranging from Dickens to Agatha Christie. No wonder they were so familiar!

Completing the cast was David Kast as the rather sleazy family lawyer Jordan, who carries the main plot of the family coming together to hear the reading of the will left by the house’s previous owner – all waiting to hear where the money is and who gets it. Not that we ever get to hear the will read – for Jordan is the first to be bumped off.

I’ll say no more about the following murders – for who knows, the show may be re-staged at some point – except the comic twists and turns that follow as the characters remaining alive try to work out who committed the crimes become every more comic and ridiculous as the characters conform to their stereotypes…and the poor author haplessly tries to engage with his own plot.

Kevin Wilson’s Knight was very much the ‘straight man’ to the weird goings-on, which is a difficult role to play, and Kevin’s stage experience very much came into play here. At times bewildered, at times deciding to go along with the strangeness just to see what would happen, he was left the following morning as Minna appeared, wondering what had happened. Was he dreaming? Was he going mad?

And then the final twists in the tale…..which reminded me how cleverly constructed ‘Out of Sight, Out of Murder’ is – and the cast on the stage of Shanklin Theatre very much did justice to it. If it does appear on the stage again – go and see it! Well done to directors Terry Pearson and Ros White, and all involved.