THIS week Yeadon Amateurs are performing a great whodunit – Stone Cold Murder by James Cawood. As a lover of murder mystery thrillers and also a keen walker, the fact that this particular thriller is set in the Lake District made it doubly delightful for me.
The play is set in the Langstrath Country House Hotel in Borrowdale which is owned by newly married couple Olivia and Robert Chappell. They have just reached the end of their first season as hoteliers and are trying to put what was a run down hotel back on its feet. It is now approaching winter and they have closed the hotel for a couple of months and enjoy some time on their own after what has been a busy six months since they opened.
The arrival of a stranger, who has come down in the dark from neighbouring Bessyboot Hill [an alternative name for the real Rosthwaite Fell], seeking a room for the night turns their lives upside down and leads to an ever increasing tension in the hotel. The suspense mounts as the play continues to reach its very dramatic and somewhat unexpected finale.
There are only four actors in the play but all of them play their parts superbly. Helen Lloyd as Olivia and Rob Place as Robert Chappell complement each other well with their superb acting. John Kitching as Ramsey, the stranger who arrives off the fells, is excellent and extremely “creepy” – just what a good thriller needs. The final character, Sam, Olivia’s former boyfriend who arrives later at the hotel, is also extremely well played by Simon Monte.
The set is of the lounge in the hotel and has been very well designed and laid out by Sarah Logan and Keith Darnborough. It is exactly what I know a Lake District Hotel lounge looks like and even has the exquisite little extra touches such as the leaflet rack of local attractions and a copy of The Cumberland and Westmorland Gazette on the coffee table.
Kath Williams, the Director, has paced the play just right, with the dramatic pauses in just the right place to add to the overall suspense.
An excellent production which runs until Saturday, October 1 at Yeadon Town Hall. Tickets available by ringing 0113 2505587 or 0113 2503032.
by John Burland
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