This Friday night, the curtain will fall for the Warner Robins Little Theater’s premiere performance of “Death by Design.” Directed by Patricia Phillips and produced by Cathy Collins, the show consists of eight actors and actresses playing out a family friendly mashup of murder, comedy, word play and brilliance.
Set in the year of 1932 in an English country manor, 8 characters are involved in the unfolding of a mysterious murder. The production follows a common thread of motive through each of the suspects, with one individual working to untangle the mystery and reveal the true murderer. Director Patricia Phillips describes the play as a “murder mystery comedy” and credits two literary minds for the twists of the storyline.
“It’s kind of a homage to Agatha Christie and Noel Coward. It’s Agatha Christie in that we have the murder mystery in that we have a room full of suspects, and the plucky Irish maid is a fan of murder mystery stories, so she is going to try and solve this mystery on her own. Everybody in the room has a reason to want the victim dead, and she is going to figure out who did it,” Phillips said.
Although a foreign language, accent, and culture were used in the production, Phillips said the cast did well in rising to the challenge.
“Trying to get a bunch of southerners to wrap their tongues around some of the phrases and the British accent, along with the 25 cent words, it’s been a challenge for them but they’ve done really well,” said Phillips. “It’s funny, and there’s a lot of word play in it and a lot of banter of puns and all, so I think it will be fun.”
Phillips encourages the community to come out and participate in solving the crime as the story unfolds onstage. She noted that the family friendly murder mystery comedy is sure to bring some laughs as well as theories as everyone tries to unravel the plot twists.
“It’s a fun show, there are a lot of funny lines and there’s a lot of comedy. And being a murder mystery, it is a comedy,” Phillips stated. “They can try and figure out “whodunnit?” I know when I watch murder mysteries I always like to see if I can figure out who the culprit is. I just think it is going to be a fun evening with a lot of laughs.”
The production is estimated to run 2 hours, including the intermission. The production dates are Aug. 9 and 10 at 8:00 p.m., Aug.15-17 at 8:00 p.m., a matinee performance on Sunday, Aug. 18 at 2:30 p.m., and then three more performances on Aug. 22–24 at 8:00 p.m.
