‘A Party to Murder’ pays homage to murder-mystery novels

A Party To Murder, directed by Sarah Spicer, is a great play to get you into the mood for the Halloween season. The play was packed full of murder and mystery, with the perfect set and props to go along with it. Though the performances were lacking at times, the fun of the play shone through.

The play takes place in a cabin on an island as a group plays a murder mystery game on Halloween. The game has been a tradition for Charles (James Ostime), Willy (Erwin Veugelers), McKenzie (Grace Li) and Elwood (Ryan Mattila) for ten years. Sisters Henri (Sarah Gibson) and Valerie (Chelsea Laporte) join in for the game for the first time. But the game suddenly becomes very real as the first body turns up. Soon everyone is pointing fingers at each other while the murderer picks them off.

The mystery extended beyond just the murders — the real mystery for the audience was unravelling the story of each character. And the secrets only grew as the audience found out more about each character. But the fast pace of the play didn’t really allow for the audience to form a real connection with the characters. The cast’s inconsistent performances didn’t help.

The performances by the cast were the weakest part of the entire play. Laporte’s performance was the strongest, and Veugelers’ was a close second. Unfortunately, Gibson’s performance started to weaken towards the end of the play — which was the pivotal moment for her character. Li’s performance made her character lack believability. Instead it felt forced throughout the whole play. 

Additionally, the story was drawn out too long and had too many twists. While murder-mystery stories aren’t usually meant to be realistic, A Party to Murder crossed into absurdity and then just kept on going. By the time the final plot twist came, the twists and turns had started to lose their edge. 

The true murder mystery of the play was where it began to lose its effect. Largely because it made no sense for a group of citizens to put on an extravagant show to reveal the true murderer of the “Phantom Five.” The “Phantom Five” were a group of people that completely disappeared in the same area as the cabin. From the first mention of the “Phantom Five,” it was painfully obvious that everything would come back to them. But that’s cheesy murder-mysteries for you.

The set and props made up for what was lacking in other parts of the play. I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into the set design. There was a trap door, a secret compartment in the bookshelf, and plenty of effects to go along with the story. The execution of the moving props, lighting, and sound was amazing. 

All in all, the play was a lot of fun once you got past the performances and over-the-top storylines. The props and set really pulled it all together, even when other elements of the play were falling apart.

You can catch A Party To Murder at the Walterdale Theatre until October 19.