A plucky theatre troupe producing Romeo and Juliet. Except they’re werewolves and vampires. It all sounds very fringe-y. 

Until one of the cast dies.

This is the premise of Lost Theatre Co.’s one act play What To Do When You Kill Your Co-Star, written by Charlotte Murray and Noah Sargent. Living up to its name, the remaining cast set about solving the problem of the dead body in the theatre, and the inevitable murder investigation in which they are now all suspects. 

The show is very self-aware and full of meta humour, consistently breaking the fourth wall, while winkingly playing into well-known theatrical tropes. The props and costuming are charmingly homespun to entertaining effect and together with the minimalist staging and lighting in the Goodwood Studio venue this adds a real sense that the troupe is down on its luck.

This is an enthusiastic production from some very talented performers. Of particular note were Lisa Baker as the big-hearted yet small-brained Officer Hugs, and Amelia Pawsey as the sassy Juliet/Sarah. On the night of this performance, illness in the cast also meant that director Ana Swadling had to take stage script in hand as Clive (in place of Daniel Parton), which she did with delightful silliness and levity. The cast is rounded out by Tima Alexandrov as the self-important troupe leader Frank, Jay Watts as the manic Jordan, and co-writer Sargent in the dual roles of the unfortunate leading man Alexander and the unpleasant Detective Mueller.

Despite strong performances across the board, the play never quite fulfils its potential. Pacing of the show is steady throughout, but lacks sufficient variation to amplify the tension or humour: the absurd situation doesn’t rise to the level of chaos required for a top-quality farce, while the whodunnit doesn’t feel satisfactorily solved as too many plot threads are briefly tugged on and soon forgotten. Numerous gags are introduced with good effect, but are not quite leant on enough to drive home the laughs and lift this to the hilarious debacle that it could be.

This show nearly delivers as a great comic disasterpiece but is perhaps held back by trying to incorporate too many funny ideas, without feeling like it fully commits to enough of them, with many promising elements initiated and then left behind. Nevertheless, it is an amusing caper with enough good moments and quirky characters to make for a bit of fun.