Fleetwood Community Theatre presents one of Ken Ludwig’s new plays, The Game’s Afoot (Or Holmes for the Holidays), a murder mystery comedy of whodunit, a first for the local theatre. The cast includes actors from Hamburg. Exeter. Sinking Spring. Muhlenberg. Birdsboro and Blandon.
Opening Oct. 16, six shows include Friday and Saturday shows at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday shows at 2 p.m. The show will be performed at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kutztown, 201 Main St., Kutztown.
The story is set in the Connecticut castle of William Gilleette, who won his reputation as an actor playing Sherlock Holmes from a script that he and Arthur Conan Doyle co-wrote. Gillette’s success and wealth has mainly come from the numerous long running shows in which he has starred in over his acting career.
The Gillette character in the play is the only historical real person in the script. The other characters are fictional. The protagonist, Gillette (Lance Thomas) liked to invite members of his acting companies to his castle for weekend holidays. This play takes place during the Christmas Holiday where the snow is falling and the roads are becoming worse by the hour. The guest list incudes his best friend Felix Geisel (John Fielding) and his wife Madge (Cindy Morgan), the young flirtatious; Aggie Wheeler (Jade Gallagher) and her new husband, Simon Bright (Jeremy Herchelroth), Martha; Gillette’s mother (Susan Behm), and a theater critic, Daria Chase (Liz Limper).
Now of course, with a murder mystery there has to be a murder. And yes, we have one, maybe two? And the mystery begins when we realize the snow has fallen at rapid rate and that no one can come up to the castle or leave….. So, the murderer has to be one of the party quests. Now the chaos begins and Gillette himself is fixed and ready to solve this crime, but he is somewhat halted in his investigation when despite the snow storm and roads, Inspector Harriot Goring (Melisa Kopizc) arrives at the front door of his castle.
Gillette seems to think he has the powers of Sherlock Holmes and attempts to solve the mystery. He and Inspector Goring compete for clues to solve this interesting murder. They also look at one another as suspects. During many places in this play we see these talented actors pull off many intriguing situations of comedy, slap stick farce, and finger pointing indications of guilt or accusations. The cast allows itself latitude to venture and bring their individual characters to comedic and also serious roles where the audience will be laughing and then quickly engrossed to trying to figure out “Who Did It.”
The show is under the direction of Brian Miller who has starred and been in many of Ludwig’s plays with FCT and other theater groups. He finds Ken Ludwig’s plays to be the comedy that has been put aside. Agatha Christie wrote, “That in a good murder mystery – suspicion must fall on each of the characters in his/her turn.” Miller likes the way Ludwig leads the audience on a MERRY chase to find the killer.
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Fleetwood Community Theatre (FCT) founded in 1988 by those who love the theatre, to teach others about loving the theatre. FCT is A Not-for-profit 501(c)(3) volunteer organization of theatre lovers currently planning our 26th season. FCT is committed to the education and development of our membership within the theatre arts program by offering opportunities to all ages both on-stage and behind the scenes. We are an outlet of quality musical, dramatic and ensemble productions. We encourage & support local youth to pursue performing arts opportunities through school, church, collegiate or other local productions. For more information, visit http://www.fleetwoodcommunitytheatre.com/.