An out-of-body experience!

Theatre
Ghost Writer
St James Cavalier

Ghostly whodunits are a pretty tricky genre to pull off. Add comedy into the mix and you’ve got a rather odd combination of suspense and mystery held together with slapstick and wit.

It is indeed a performance that will have the audience in fits- André Delicata

Surprisingly, David Tristram’s Ghost Writer manages to combine most of these elements in a very entertaining manner.

While the script requires the audience’s suspension of disbelief and goodwill in accepting the improbable, it offered a highly enjoyable, if somewhat over-the-top plot which showcased the cast’s great sense of comic timing.

Mr Tristram’s play, staged in a collaboration between DnA and FM Theatre Productions, seems to be going down very well with patrons, judging by the audience reaction when I was there.

Alan Montanaro’s Edward as a washed-out and depressed playwright was spot on in his cynical and self-deprecating attitude, which leads him to balance ineptitude with causticity very well.

Currently living with his gay friend Alex, played with the right shade of campness by Stefan Farrugia, Edward is still having trouble coming to terms with his wife’s death the previous year.

He has let himself go to the extent that he has lost his home and practically his livelihood.

Mr Farrugia made a likable enough “concerned-best-friend” but I somehow expected him to be a little more Will and a little less Grace: I did like his panic attacks however.

A series of ghostly visitations by Edward’s deceased wife Ruby reveal that her death was not accidental nor was it suicide.

Denise Mulholland was a stellar Ruby – an erstwhile actress whose sarcasm wasn’t dampened by death.

She managed to transform the spine-chilling into the side-splitting, with the delivery of acerbic one-liners and the ridiculous bureaucratisation of the afterlife.

Ms Mulholland has once again come up trumps with her slick timing and dead pan delivery.

This comic style contrasted with Taryn Butler’s portrayal of Glenda, the date Alex manages to secure for Edward – a rather dim woman too meek for her own good.

Ms Butler’s equally funny performance was much more reminiscent of the Carry On style – as the unwitting victim of Edward’s indifference and Ruby’s growing impatience.

In her desire to discover who might have murdered her, Ruby helps Edward to write a play, a whodunit, in order to entice three possible suspects, all of whom they deem to be bad actors in need of attention.

The ploy is simple enough – write a play reflecting the situation at hand and catch out the person who seems most shocked by it – a clear parallel to Hamlet of course, as is the liberal use of direct quotation from the play to drive the point home.

As Mr Tristram puts it in his programme note: “… if you’re going to rip off a play, you may as well choose a good one”.

Ruby is convinced that even when only two out of the three suspects show up, she’ll have enough information to find her murderer.

The two suspects, Hedley and Frances, played by Edward Mercieca and Marika Fenech respectively, are washed-up actors – one a bumbling alcoholic, the other a cross between a black widow and an inept femme fatale.

It was good to see Ms Fenech back on the stage and she managed to hold her own extremely well, giving a very polished performance, while Mr Mercieca kept up his usual high comic standards.

Director Polly March chose a great cast to begin with but it is thanks to her strong direction that the piece works so well. It is indeed a performance that will have the audience in fits and also has a surprising twist at the end.

Definitely worth watching as it makes for a great weekend night out.