Murder Inc. – The Leadmill @ Theater Deli, Sheffield

Creators: Jade Fearnley and Kate McCabe

Improv has always been a popular form of entertainment with TV shows likeWhose line is it anyway?but it is fair to say that it has seen a significant renaissance since thenShowstopper! The improvised musicallaunched. Since then, Mischief Theater touches on a journey into the world of improvisation withMichief movie nighta concept similar toShowstopperbut it is usually not a musical and instead creates a live film based on audience suggestions. Now we seeMurder Inc. where a company of talented comedians take audience input for theme, settings and characters and create a hilariously thrilling crime mystery live on stage.

Murder Inc.,created by Jade Fearnley and Kate McCabe, enjoy performances in various cities and have a regular residency at Seven Arts in Leeds. This week the company brought the show to Sheffield at Theater Deli, presented by The Leadmill, to test the water on whether it could take up a regular residency in the Steel City.

Based on audience votes at the entrance, the audience found themselves transported to the stadium of the hit BBC showgladiator which recently experienced a comeback. A French director brings fresh ideas to the production of the TV show, which do not sit well with others working on the TV show. While your reviewer had not seengladiatorthis was another fun night with lots of laughs.

The first act consists of a series of scenes between pairs of actors as we begin to see tensions rise, leading to a full company scene where a death occurs (this is not a spoiler, we’re told that Act 1 will end with a murder). right before the show starts!). After an interval, a detective character leads us through a series of interrogations with a series of hilarious flashbacks sprinkled throughout. This part of the show was more reminiscent of similar shows likeMichief movie nightandshowstopper,only here our narrator is seamlessly integrated into the action, rather than stepping in from the outside.

Sheffield’s cast consisted of Kate McCabe, Harry May-Bedell, David Stanier, Edward Easton and Liora Aroil.

Kate McCabe acts as contestant, warming up the audience and ensuring their suggestions are incorporated. She builds a fantastic rapport with the audience instantly whilst ensuring that no one fears being taken if they don’t want to be. Then he perfectly took over the role of gladiatorhost, wonderfully characterizing them as a glamorous American woman who loves the limelight, while also bringing some heart to the proceedings as we got some insight into her character’s backstory.

Harry May-Bedell was incredibly funny as Wolf, a contestant on the TV show – made even funnier knowing he doesn’t like the TV show. He led the audience through the second act with ease as the detective character, keeping the action moving while throwing curveballs at his fellow actors to see how they would handle them.

David Stanier was cute with his Scottish accent (sort of interesting), Edward Easton was hilariously funny as the French director (again, another interesting accent!) and Liora Aroil was fun (with more interesting accents – there’s a theme here !) .

The entire cast works excellently together and they all clearly enjoy their work, which causes the audience to thoroughly enjoy the show. This reviewer looks forward to returning whenever the company returns to Sheffield.

This visit to Theater Deli is likely to be your reviewer’s last as the location is set to close in its current building in the coming weeks. This will be a sad loss for Sheffield until it finds a new temporary home, but hopefully if The Leadmill continues to program theater alongside its comedy and music line-up, it could fill some of that gap in the meantime.

Revised May 14, 2024.