Strathmore Theatre Players presents Death by Design

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Theatre Players will be recreating Rob Uribanti’s Death by Design- A Comedy with Murder later this month. The play is set in a 1932 English countryside manor where play writer Edward Bennett and actress wife Sorel flee from London after a terrible opening night.
However, random guests started showing up including a politician, a fiery socialist, a near-sighted ingénue and a zany modern dancer, and all have a long-term secret.
One of them gets mysteriously murdered and now it’s left up to Bridgit, the feisty Irish maid with a keen interest in homicides, to solve the mystery.
“The challenge is often finding something that’s inspiring to both our director and our audience,” said Tashina Mackenzie, stage director.
“We know our community loves to laugh. We love to have a lot of fun when they come out and spend time with us. We were definitely looking for something that would hit both of those spots. We read it out loud and we all laughed as we were reading even without the acting.”
The audience will notice a lot of slapstick, witty repartee between characters, innuendo and sarcasm.
Graydon Pease, who is in his eighth show with the Strathmore Theatre Players, plays the head character Walter Pearce, who is a newly elected conservative parliamentarian, and is determined to exhume the glory of the English economy from its languishment.
However, upon arrival at the manor, Pearce suddenly becomes an important part of mystery.
Additionally, he has a love interest and has no idea how to be a romantic guy and gets caught up in a challenging situation.
“So to try and marry the two things together in terms of the stiff personality as well as trying to win the love of a woman is extremely challenging for Walter,” said Pease.
“There’s a lot of comedy to come from those challenges in itself. Things like coming up with something romantic to whisper in her ear and he has no clue in how to even to that.”
Pease said it’s been a challenging role for him because he has a big personality and he has had to play a character that has no personality.
The show will run from Feb. 25-27 at 7:30 p.m and on the 28th at 2 p.m. and again from March 3- 5 at 7:30 p.m. with the matinee going on fifth at 2 p.m.
All shows will be at the Hope Covenant Church.
Tickets are $16 for seniors and students, $21 for adults, and can be purchased through their Facebook page or by cash at the door.