The Real Inspector Hound – by Tom Stoppard

This play is an example of absurdism as well as farce, parody, and satire, a comic spoof of the whodunits popularized by Agatha Christie. In a secluded English country manor house we have ominous radio reports of a criminal on the loose, visitors behaving suspiciously, a relative with a shady past and an unidentified dead body (that is on stage for half of the play before it is noticed).

The play-within-a-play opens with two competing theatre critics, ready to review the latest mystery. In time, both find themselves literally drawn into the play, leading to a climax when the murderer's identity is revealed. Or is it? With the sleuth reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie's Mousetrap meets the Hound of the Baskervilles For the rest, let yourself be surprised by Stoppard's wit.

Directed by: Nina Cohen

Performed by: Ken Kitchen, Peter Hubbard, Benjamin Keaton, Paddy O'Connell, Polly Perkins, Christine Blakeley, Leslie Fox, Jeanette Warburton, Annika Groeneveld, and Simon Murphy