Lorne Jackson talks to two writers breathing some fresh life into the old whodunnit.
Perhaps it was a bad idea coming to Wolverhampton, where I’ve just stumbled upon something very nasty indeed.
The previous minute, two “respectable” young gents coaxed me into the back office of a cramped little shop, lurking in the shade of a shabby alley.
Like a fool, I allowed curiosity to get the better of me. Now I’m confronted by a corpse. That’s right. A body. Dead as an X Factor winner’s career, 12 months after the TV show finale. The stiff lies stiff on the floorboards.
Yikes! What sort of dastardly plot entangles me?
Now would be a good time to devise a cunning escape plan. Maybe blast my way to freedom with the aid of a trusty Magnum.
Unfortunately, I don’t go in for Magnums. I prefer a Cornetto, every time.
Guess I’ll just have to be a man about it, and sink to my knees and plead for mercy.
Thankfully my predicament never reaches the gibber and whimper stage. It transpires that the dead body is merely several rolls of Sellotape, creatively crumpled and shaped to form an authentic looking, life-size corpse. Tony Hart couldn’t have done a spiffier job.
So what’s going on? Well, there is a plot, alright, though it’s far from diabolical. The Sellotape mannequin is one of many props scattered round this temporary office in Wolverhampton city centre.
The space has been adapted to the purposes of Last Fancies, an innovative new theatre company set up by two young Midland directors.
Joseph Hancock and Joe Von Malachowski devised wrote and directed The Death Of Georgia B, a murder-mystery play that isn’t content to remain within the boundaries of a single theatre or stage.
Instead, it combines a thrilling narrative with a tour of Wolverhampton’s leading entertainment venues.
The story begins at Newhampton Arts Centre, where the audience are introduced to a case that has baffled police.
Reel Time Theatre, a poorly performing (fictional) company have endured a string of accidents, including what appears to be an attempted murder.
Who is to blame? The leading man? His co-star? Or someone from outside the company?
After leaving Newhampton Arts Centre, the audience are driven in taxis to the Arena Theatre. Then it’s on to Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and Wolverhampton Art Gallery, before the play concludes at the Light House.
The audience are encouraged to interview the cast, and are given full access to backstage areas, dressing rooms, auditoriums, and several usually off-limits locations, including a rarely visited city centre underground passageway.
It certainly promises to be an ambitious theatrical event. Even so, Last Fancies are working on a tight budget. The corpse I spot on the floor of their temporary office, for instance, was constructed simply and cheaply – though laboriously.
Von Malachowski was covered, head-to-foot, in Sellotape, which took hours. Then the Sellotape suit was opened and Von Malachowski struggled free, leaving a ‘cadaver’ to be packed and patched up.
