Caught in the Spotlight – It’s all About the
Magic
Intrigue,
mystery and the unknown! As human beings we are pulled by the allure of the
hidden. From the search for the elixir of life through to the quest for inner
meaning, we continually look for experiences and knowledge to form and shape the
way in which we relate to the world and to each other. By what we know, we
measure our perception of reality. Woven among the threads of physical reality
and science are the arts; where the sublime and surreal blend like fine wine
with our senses to create a backdrop of magic. Nowhere is this truer than
in the performing
arts.
The
genre of murder mysteries has been spearheaded by literary giants like Agatha
Christy, G K Chesterton and Dorothy L Sayers. The heyday of detective books
between around 1920 and 1950 gave rise to the “whodunit”, creating not just a
new word in the English language but an entire sector of riveting entertainment
across the media industry.
Upstaged
by Theater
As
absorbing as books are or as compelling a good movie, you cannot top a dramatic
production. This draws in the audience and involves them personally in the plot.
We are aware of every nuance, every stage aside, and every sub-plot that takes
place; as the audience we become charged with anticipation, creating an
atmosphere of suspense which is electrifying. The cast respond to this, taking the tension ever
higher until the grand denouement, when all becomes clear and the villain of the
piece revealed.
Elements
for a Good Whodunit
A
good whodunit needs to be constructed using a number of different elements.
It
needs a sufficient number of characters for the plot to be complex enough to
conceal the real villain of the piece. This allows for a number of red herrings
to take the audience off at a tangent before realizing they are on the wrong
track and needing to come back to the central plot and start again. The
characters need to reflect a number of different personality types from
different social strata, with sufficient interconnection with other characters
to provide multi-layered motivations for murder; making it more difficult to
identify the guilty party. These connections will consist of some that are
self-evident and public, while others will be out of the public eye and known
only to the characters involved (and of course the audience).
Naturally
a good trail of clues is intrinsic to any murder mystery production. Depending
of course on the setting of the play, these can vary enormously. From pieces of
furniture that have been moved or removed, but no one can remember who did it or
why; or perhaps a book left abandoned on a pathway outside the building. There
might be bloodstains on a carpet
somewhere or footprints in a flower bed. The killer makes it his business to
cover any possible eventuality of being caught by laying plenty of red herrings.
Keeping the audience on edge with a carefully constructed tapestry of clues
leads suspicion in one direction and then another; only one central clue needs
to be solved to point straight to the guilty party, but which is the critical
clue?
Of
course a good murder mystery has simply got to have a body. Is this going to be
one of the main characters in the play or a bystander or stranger? Who is going
to find the body and what are the circumstances in which it will be
discovered?
Then
we have the detective. This is usually either one of the central characters in
the play, who just happens to be part of the group for a social occasion
perhaps, or a journey. Sometimes though the detective is a passerby or an
observer, who gets pulled in out of curiosity and an inability to stand by when
they are obviously needed to unravel the chaos and arrive at the right
solution.
Korporate
Killing Kompany
Corporate programs are
also on offer from The Killing Kompany, with tailored content to cover a wide range
of issues for seminars and workshops. Using live
performance and audience participation to illustrate and inform the
participants on a broad spectrum of topics; these can range from disability and
sexual harassment through to conflict resolution and management issues; or even
drug and alcohol
abuse. The Killing Kompany are able to identify with real life issues and convey
their impact in a meaningful and yet sensitive way. While we tend to think of
plays being enacted either on a stage, or at least in an area which is clearly
defined and separated from the audience, it has become immensely popular to
remove the demarcation; with no clear boundaries between audience and players,
the drama of the play is all the more intense as the audience is captive and yet
set apart in the midst of the scene being enacted around them, unless of course
they become implicated as a suspect in the play! This makes for a superb
production which it is difficult to say is enjoyed more by the onlookers or by
the cast. The Killing Kompany has been specializing in these types of production for
almost two decades and is in great demand for their murder mystery dinner shows,
which they stage all around the globe by private request. They also stage open
to the public shows in the New York and New Jersey areas and are a must for any
avid whodunit aficionado.
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