Simon Brett is a popular writer of detective novels and plays but also with a long pedigree in both television and radio productions so he has a well honed sense of what catches an audience and what keeps its attention.  

"Murder in Play" mixes pith, wit and drama in equal measures so cooks up a smorgasbord of a plot with something for all tastes.

Boris Smolensky's budget repertory production of "Murder in Play" at Priorswell Manor is looking decidedly shaky. The cast are more interested in their egos than the play, and life imitates art when Boris's wife, Renee, is murdered on stage. Was it Ginette, Boris's pretty but dippy mistress? Or was it Boris himself? And is there more to Boris and stage manager Pat's stormy relationship than meets the eye? The hilarious text employs a play-within-a-play device to ruthlessly satirise the politics of the inept company and numerous red herrings keep the audience guessing until the final moments of the action.

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