No sofa available unfortunately but Hunters Hill Theatre’s DEATH KNELL was just as good as any Friday night murder on the ABC.  One of my favourite indulgences!  The play is more of a why done it than a who dunnit with a boa constrictor squeeze of tension as it hits its second act.  And community theatre is just the place to see it.  DEATHTRAP might pop up every now and then in the big city theatres but it’s up to community groups to keep the thriller form alive.  And audiences highly entertained.

We meet Henry Roth, a playwright past his useby date and desperate for a hit to restore his standing.  Reruns on TV aren’t giving his ego the strokes it needs.  Nor is his younger wife of 5 years, Evelyn, of whom he is scarily controlling.  He has decided that he needs a new fresh face to headline his next play and invites an young actor, Jack, who he has seen in London up to his creepy, renovated, isolated hunters cabin in the Scottish highlands.  And the game will be afoot.

DEATH KNELL is deceptively simple early on, we see plot points coming and are a bit ahead of the doltish Jack as the full force of an afore hatched plan begins to tighten around the 3 characters.  But, we too are deceived by the apparent predictability of James Cawood’s 2017 text.  It has all the twists and twisted characters that we want in a Friday night thriller.  And some deliciously black humour to boot.

At the risk of being passé , I have nothing but admiration for any actor of seniority who can remember that many lines.  Chris Clark as Henry is amazing in his command of those long expository speeches. Imposing physically, he also uses his height to considerable advantage and he understands the reserve of his character.  Perhaps a little underplayed on the night I saw the show, he nevertheless carries considerable weight in his role with sinister to the fore.  And he has an excellent scene partner in Paula Searle as his wife.

The tension in their relationship is beautifully drawn from that first scene where Director Jennifer Willison has carefully created a mystery around the marriage… domestic, intimate and simmering with the possibility of gaslighting.  Searle has a quiet presence which serves her well in a role that requires a great deal of listening which she handles with clear characterisation and emotional travel.

As the eager-to-please Jack, Ross Holohan has an enthusiastic puppy air about his early scenes that works very effectively to contrast with Henry’s portentous pronouncements about his great work. His is a big actorly expansiveness, too, but as his character grows Holohan sheds some of the youthfulness but never loses Jack’s inate charm.

There is one more character who joins these 3. Lazan is brought to us by Kim Oates with a perky eccentricity that brings his scenes alive with plot development.  The convenience of coincidence is extremely well created by his interventions.

Audio (Casey Moon-Watton)  is very well used in this production.  It sneaks in under dialogue to heighten the emotion or presage the action.  There’s a terrific use of music under a sequence where a disturbing newspaper article is read, which works incredibly well.

The setting, too, really enhances the production.  The lodge is so evocative of the place of the action in all its Monarch of the Glen tackiness.    And there are quite a few clever little features which show the complex theatrical experience of this company .  The swinging door to the kitchen, for example.   The lighting (Wayne Chee) is equally well designed to give the realistic setting further relateability.  The choice for increasing shadows, never gloomy though, rather than using a blue for evening adds so much to the dastardly events done out of full light.

DEATH KNELL is a gripping mystery that keeps one guessing right to its very modern finale even if the dog and the sofa and a glass of red are missing.

DEATH KNELL from Hunters Hill Theatre [Facebook] plays until September 2nd.