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What is the Project?
The Murder Mystery performance was commissioned to the HNC/HND Courses as Gloucestershire College by "Gloucester Welcomes Refugees", we were asked to create a Christmas themed Murder Mystery for charity.
The Story starts in 1920's London, where the Countess has her annual Christmas Masquerade Ball, in which she invites all the townsfolk to celebrate the holidays as a community, little does she know however that the evening will take a very... Interesting turn.
On this page I am reviewing my Acting in which I was given the role of the Inspector.
Inspirations (Performance)
The Play that goes Wrong!
The play that goes wrong is a spoof murder mystery show set in the early 1900's around Christmas, I took a lot of inspiration from the detective character in that show, including the practical comedy and also the character trait of not being very good at their job, This show heavily inspired my movements and interactions with the fellow characters on stage, I did this in little ways such as having my characters theories always getting foiled by the guests of the party, you can watch a special preview of the show HERE!
My Own Personal Character (Billy)
When it comes to Character Development, I enjoy creating backstories and personalities for new people I am going to play, so when it came to the Murder Mystery, I found the character of the Inspector a blank slate just waiting to be filled in. When I got casted as the Inspector I had a thought of different names and archetypes I could use, one character that kept coming into my head was a character I had previously named called Billy, even though I had never used billy in a performance before, I always used his character in different media such as Video Games & My Own Personal Story-Telling, he originally came from Pokemon, which sounds strange but after he came along I put him in more personal media, making him human and giving him his own unique personality, which I thought would match the character I am playing perfectly. The personality in mention is Larger than Life, Sarcastic and Optimistic.
The name we are using for the Inspector is Sir William Ivy, which is heavily inspired of Billy himself, this is because Billy is short for William, and the surname Ivy comes from his original appearance, this being an Ivysaur in Pokemon. Alongside this I feel it fits the Christmas theme
Sherlock Holmes
When doing research for a 'Classic British Detective' one detective immediatly came to mind, that being Britain's most famous Detective 'Sherlock Holmes', the inspiration I got from him was mainly to do with his social skills, Sherlock Holmes was well known for being good with solving crimes and seeing the details that no one else see's, but what he had in detective skills he lacked in social. Which is kind of what I wanted to emulate but not as strong. What I mean by this is having William Ivy as a confident talker, in a sense. During rehearsals I've made him very straight to the point and rather sarcastic, only really having good social skills when it comes to either gaining or recieving information related to the case at hand.
An original concept for Detective William Ivy was greatly inspired off of sherlock holmes, more specificly his outfit. Sherlock Holmes is known for wearing a Deer-Hunting Hat, a hat we were going to get for my character also, something which didn't come to reality, this was mainly because we found a suitable alternative that didn't affect the budget.
Here is one of the original Sherlock Holmes films, which gives a good idea as to the description I gave above.
Here is an example of a more modern Sherlock Holmes and his social skills, well lack of.
Detective Poirot
The most well known murder mysteries all link back to Agatha Christie (Which you can find on my Backstage page), Alongside her most famous works such as 'Murder on The Orient Express', she always had one Detective that solved the case. A Belgium Refugee also known as Detective Hercule Poriot. While reading about his character I found alot of good traits I can extract and utilise into my own character 'William Ivy', while having the same career as Sherlock Holmes, Poirot's personality wildly contradicts Holmes's as he is more socially confident and is more dramatic than the stern and cold Holmes, the Dramatic part of his personality I found using in my own character, the one thing I had the exact opposite however was his Punctuality, what I mean by this is that Poirot is well known for always having his pocket watch and always seeming professional, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted, I thought it would be a good contrast from Poirot.
Another Inspiration I took from Poirot was his hat. While I originally intended to have a hat more similarly to Sherlock Holmes, We found a hat that matched Poirot more and worked with my overall costume better.
Here is an episode from 'Agatha Christie's Poirot', which represents how I described his character.
In this clip from 'Murder on The Orient Express 2018' you can see Poirot's more social personality and his slightly dramatised nature.
Columbo
When it comes to my family, no detective is more well known in my house than Columbo. Columbo is a more realistic interpretation of a detective. I say this because of how his character traits define him. In comparison to the past detectives, Columbo knows full well of his strengths and weaknesses, an example of this is when he states that he isnt good with a firearm, which leads him to not using one. Its the more realistic character archetype that I wanted William Ivy to have, but if I had to say what the influence was when it came to Columbo, its more his costume, the long trench coat and tie was a style I wanted to emulate and I managed to make my own interpretation, adding a waistcoat and substituting the regular tie for a bow-tie, alongside the Poirot styled hat, I feel that I had managed to interpret Columbo's costume really well, changing it to make it my own and to also match the Time Period.
While you can only find 'Columbo' on streaming services, here are a few of his best moments that shows his detective skills.
In this video you can see Columbo's more realistic character arch, him talking about his dead wife.
Commedia Dell'arte
What is Commedia Dell'arte?
Commedia Dell'arte is a very popular characterisation technique that came around in the mid 1500's, this technique is used commonly as a good start for character improvisation and creation.
When creating a character, you need a base mould of the person you want to portray, this can be done in many ways from getting inspiration from a pre-existing character, or by taking a stereotype and building from there, this is what Commedia Dell'arte helps with.
It is not always just personality that is involved when making someone fleshed out, it is also in body language, how you move as an actor. It's a good way to differentiate certain character aspects such as age, social status and personality
you will be given a list of stock characters you find the most appealing, then you expand on it to make someone unique to you, I chose to portray the role of The Hero, I chose this because I believe the hero archetype matches my character of William Ivy the best.
Strengths & Weaknesses and What I hope to Achieve
Strengths:
Characterisation & Improvisation - A personal strength of mine is having the ability to stay as a character for long periods of time, I like to believe this is shown in previous shows I have taken part in, a good example especially is Miss Maggie's which was performed last year, I've always liked to make characters and try to talk like them and make a story around them, this is shown when I'm playing my games at home, especially with a character I made called Yakov Schmirnoff and as I said earlier Billy.
Weaknesses:
Confidence - While I can come across moderately confident in performance, I can manage to hide my nerves behind a wall pretty well, this is something I aim to work on, my nerves all come down to my self-doubt and the belief that I haven't done enough or that I don't deserve what I have gotten. While this will be difficult to work on I aim to give myself more self-appraisal and to also make sure I know I'm doing the best I can
Spacial Awareness - Whenever I've done a show I've always been told the same thing time and time again, that is sometimes my back is facing towards the audience, I personally find it difficult not to do, this is because I believe I am quite expressive through the way I move, I've come up with a good way to try and deal with this however, that is to always have a few members of audience in eyeshot so I know I'm not facing away from them.
Rehearsal Videos & Photos/The Production
27th September
4th October
21st October
11th November
On this day, we introduced a choreography into the show. originally with Faith and Kian, due to staging problems we decided to make a change to the choreography and instead we had me and Basia performing the choreography together. We chose to make it a slow-dance as it matched the aesthetic, we also thought this would work with Basia's character, as she finally slips away from her controlling sister she immediately finds romance with my character "Pepe".
14th November
15th November
This was the day where we sat down and read the final version of the script
25th November
1st December
2nd December
Show Day & Feedback
Cast (In Order of Introduction)
Below them you can find their characters original stories.
Red Cloak:
The Actor:
The Character:
The Red Cloak was a very well-known member of the party, for both good reasons and bad, the first murder victim with alot of history and a upper class background, the Red Cloak has had history with all of the members of the party, this leaving everyone in the dark on who would want to kill them, for the main reason as the Red Cloak has negatively impacted the parties lives in one way or another.
Detective William Ivy:
The Actor:
Sam Gwilliam
The Character:
Detective William Ivy is a man of many mysteries, appearing out of the blue to solve the murder of Red Cloak, not much is known about this individual, other than his determination to solve the case no matter the cost, even though the members of the party don't approve of his "Lower Class" Lifestyle. After the case was solved, he dissapeared as mysteriously as he appeared...
The Countess:
The Actor:
The Character:
The Countess is the host of the party at her manor, inviting all the townsfolk to celebrate her and her accomplishments, while being popular in her town, her demeanour is only purely a show, as she hates the lower class and anyone who thinks otherwise, which led to her having a rather low opinion on the detective.
The General:
The Actor:
The Character:
The General A.K.A The Lion, as the name implies she is a general in the military, working alongside Roger Stag, similarily to the Countess, she has a low opinion of those of a lower class, as she believes they should all be kept far apart from each other, also a very egotistical character, she is high member of society and makes sure those around her know it.
Walter Wolf:
The Actor:
The Character:
Walter Wolf is a person who hasn't had the best luck in life, as a man who lost all of his money his status has dropped drastically, all because of the Red Cloak. This led Walter to loathing him because of his betrayal, as someone who secretly wanted to marry a woman of lower class, Walter doesn't have a bad view but is purely misleaded by the people he's close with.
Reverend Weasel:
The Actor:
The Character:
The Reverand is an interesting character, while having his beliefs on the lower class, that doesn't stop him from being the reverand of the local church, his only cause for going to the party was his infactuation with the Countess. Alongside this he has also had a 'history' being a well known pickpocket in his youth.
Beatrice Bluebird:
The Actor:
The Character:
Beatrice is the daughter of the general and has had a rather intimate past with The Red Cloak, this has also led to her getting hurt by him also, as being the Red Cloaks ex fiancé, she knows his temprament and also what kind of person he is, as someone who hates the lower class, she can come across as rather reserved, only keeping her past life to those who she is close with.
Harriet Hare:
The Actor:
The Character:
Harriet Hare has had quite a history with the general, having an ongoing family feud that coincidentally happens the night of the Red Cloaks Murder... The Hare is also the Life of the party, even though she likes a good drink, probably one of the more considerate members of the higher class, believing that everyone deserves a chance, a highly contradictory view to the other members of the Countess's V.I.P Guest list.
Roger Stag:
The Actor:
The Character:
Roger Stag is one of the more respectable members of the higher class, having respect for those of a lower status. He fell in love with a woman from said class and unfortunately lost her due to his families disapproval, however now that his father has passed away, he now has free reign when it comes to marrying the one he loves, he hired the Red Cloak to find her. The question is. Did He?
Daisy Dove:
The Actor:
The Character:
Daisy (The Dove) is an 18 year old with quite a fortune, but you wouldn't know it as she is constantly held back by her sister the Dragon as she believes Daisy isn't mature enough to go out into the world herself and will find an 'Unworthy Man' This doesn't stop Daisy however from seceretly trying to find her true love.
Delores Dragon:
The Actor:
The Character:
Delores the Dragon is known as the 'Prettiest Woman of London', and she makes sure everyone knows about it, with a rather unpleasant and egotistical attitude about the lower class and men in general, she believes she is perfect due to her looks and fortune. She is also overbearing when it comes to her sister Daisy. Not because she cares about her sister, so her families secrets don't get revealed...
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