THE FARNDALE AVENUE HOUSING ESTATE TOWNSWOMEN’S GUILD MURDER MYSTERY Blackwood Players Inc Blackwood 21 (Blackwood Memorial Hall) Until 20 Feb 2010 Review by Brian Godfrey A few years ago, author Michael Green wrote a book on what he defined as the art of coarse acting,dedicated to those unsung actors who liked to wear obviously fake facial hair, bellowed out their lines inthe belief that they were being dramatic and careened around a stage without the slightest clue as towhat they were doing. Some years later, playwrights David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr enlarged on the idea by writing aseries of plays as performed by the fictitious (and hugely untalented) Farndale etc. ladies. Their murdermystery, “Murder at Checkmate Manor”, is enough to make Agatha Christie turn in her grave and, if stillalive, change her name to Barbara Cartland and take to writing romances. This production is very funny, but as written, tends to labour the joke by having a second act - andpossibly the theatre world’s silliest ending. Director EriK Strauts wrings every bit of humour out of the play itself, but could have gone even moreover the top with such things as the home movie and fashion show; and, given the very appropriatesurroundings of Blackwood 21, had the ladies selling homemade jams and the like and being quiteofficious and annoying to the audience at the beginning and during interval. Appropriately, Strauts’ set doesn’t work well (How often can a reviewer note that as a compliment?) andhis sound design, along with Neil Waller’s lighting and Michaela Black’s choreography, is wonderfullydreadful. To act badly on purpose, a cast has to be able to do it very well - Blackwood Players current cast (withone exception) achieves this. Rosie Read plays the group’s President and forever leading lady, Mrs.Reece, to the hilt, but needs to be more stern and confident when dealing with the audience in herpresidential persona (and looks a little too good for some of the lines about her appearance to work). Lauren Hollis (Miss Farndale) hams it up nicely, only occasionally going a tad too far, but she needs towatch her clumpy shoes, while Kathy Strauts offers strong support as Audrey Billings. Both ladies needto watch their projection at times though. As the only male in the cast, Glen Christie plays Gordon Pew, the hapless stage manager who has,reluctantly, to “go on” as the Inspector. He is hilarious and probably the audience favourite. Be warned: this show is not for lovers of fine theatre - it is for people who want to have a fun time andenjoy themselves: and on that level, it succeeds one hundred per cent.