Teatro La Quindicina mounts comedic mystery

Everyone has something to hide in I Heard About Your Murder, Teatro La Quindicina’s latest elegant, comedic mystery opening at the Varscona Theatre on July 13.

As playwright-director Stewart Lemoine explains it, the basic premise revolves around five people who don’t expect to bump into each other.

“All the characters have secrets and agendas of their own. Everybody is concealing why they’re there,” said Lemoine who was pretty tight-lipped about releasing too many plot details.

From the few tidbits gleaned, the machinations start when cabin owners Howard Forrester (Garett Ross) and his Dodie Forrester (Jenny McKillop) spontaneously visit their British Columbia property.

But summer cabins have a way of attracting unwelcome guests – both the two-foot and four-foot kind. Before they know it, the Forresters are playing host to a diverse collection of gatecrashers with secrets – and possibly the surrounding wildlife.

While I Heard About Your Murder is not your typical Agatha Christie styled hard-boiled detective case, Lemoine has a keen vision and a unique flair for injecting enough twists and turns into his plots to keep everyone on edge.

This contemporary summer play was inspired after Lemoine visited friends with a cabin located between Radium and Golden.

“We would go for a beautiful walk and there was these animal droppings. It was the most beautiful place in the world, but there was always a sense of unease because of the wildlife.”

In placing five urbanites in a rural environment, the playwright removes them from their comfort zone. Under the weight of certain pressures and domestic disputes, their true colours emerge.

One of the challenges Lemoine’s characters face is technology – or better yet – the lack of it.

“People are used to bringing technology wherever they go. Here it doesn’t work and they have to think on their feet. What did people used to do? Talk to each other.”

Bad behaviour and how people deal with each other is another theme running throughout the play.

“People are surprised by what they can endure and how even in the most tense situations, they find ways to visit with family and cooperate on important matters.”

On the surface, I Heard About Your Murder sounds dark and yet Lemoine likens it to a comedy of errors filled with mistaken identities, pratfalls, multiple exits and lots of door slamming. And look forward to seeing a realistic two-level cabin built specifically to bring the great outdoors onto the stage.