TEN FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Murder Mystery Players’ GDPR Statement of Compliance
1. What does the format of the evening look like?
7.30 pm: Actors arrive to make last minute preparations.
7.45 pm: The audience begins to arrive. It is recommended that they are seated around tables in teams of between 6 and 8. It is your decision as to whether you provide a bar or ask people to bring their own drinks. Each table should be furnished with a copy of the Murder Mystery Solution Sheet for your play and the quiz questions, if you choose to use the quiz format as well.
8.00 pm: The evening is explained to the audience.
Find out more about the scripts.
KEY POINTS:
The audience will witness the first part of the play, which takes between approximately 30 minutes and one hour, depending on the play chosen. During this they should be listening and looking for clues whilst making notes. The clues will relate to a person/persons involved in the murder, motive and opportunity. N.B. In the event of more than one table getting the answer correct, the table with the most correct clues will be deemed to be the winners.
There will be a break of approximately one hour in which food will be served. You may decide that the actors will have nothing to do with this, or you may adopt a format which allows the actors to be interviewed by the members of the audience. If you adopt the latter approach, you should make sure that your actors are clear as to what they can, and cannot, say. During this interval the audience will be invited to complete their solution sheets and the quiz, if you choose to use a quiz.
After the Murder Mystery Solution Sheets have been collected, the second half of the play will commence, after which the winners will be revealed.
8.05 pm: The play begins.
8.50 pm: The first half of the play ends and the interval starts. Food is served and the audience completes its Murder Mystery Solution Sheets in table teams.
9.40 pm: The audience is warned that the Murder Mystery Solution Sheets are to be collected and the process begins. N.B. The quiz answers are NOT to be collected in at this stage. A person designated by the acting group will decide which tables have won, but the audience will not be told.
9.50 pm: The second half of the play, ‘denouement’ is enacted.
10.05 pm: The play ends, the winning table announced, and the prizes given out (The awarding of prizes is your decision, but, in general, an audience likes to have some kind of ‘incentive.’)
10.10 pm: Quiz: as you choose, you can include this element in the Murder Mystery Evening or not. If you do, it is usually best to ask table teams to swap answers. You can then go through the correct answers. It is up to you whether you wish to award prizes for this part of the evening; it is not always necessary.
10.20 pm: Your part of the evening is over. There are usually announcements regarding other events to be planned and often raffle prizes to be won.
10.30 pm: The end of the evening, which we are sure will have been a great success!
2. What will the package cost?
The package costs 55 pounds only, for an emailed copy of the play.
3. Do the actors needs to be experienced?
No. People can go on the stage for the first time and have a very successful event. The audience will love the fact that they know many of the performers as in, for example, instances where teachers perform before an audience of parents. In many cases, actors have given their performances with scripts in hand. Of course, actors may choose to learn their lines, but this method relieves the pressure on the performers. You will find that, given the nature of the events, the audience will soon forget that you are holding a script and focus instead on the clues, and, hopefully, the laughs, that are coming their way!
4. Is much preparation involved?
You will be provided with a model poster. The staging of the plays is very simple, as they are designed for school Parent Teacher Associations, golf clubs and charities etc. as fund-raising events. The number of props is kept to a minimum. You will be provided with Murder Mystery Solution Sheets for table teams to complete as well a list of clues to help the actors and organisers decide which is the winning table; teams will be sat at tables as they would be on quiz evenings.
All props and any sound effects are very simple, so nothing needs to be made. The plays are written, bearing in mind that they will be performed by people who have busy lives!
5. How do I know that what we are buying is of a high quality?
Murder Mystery Players has been in existence and operating successfully since 1996. There have been 2,000 performances of our plays in various parts of the world, including the U.K., Zante and Dubai, where there have been professional productions. One of our Murder Mystery Plays opened the prestigious Emirates Festival of Literature in 2014.
6. Can we adapt the play once we have purchased it?
Yes, you, do. Although Murder Mystery Players hold the copyright of the plays, permission is granted so you can make alterations to suit your audience so that you include, for example, references to topical issues, and possibly even characters who are well-known to the audience.
7. What are the plays like in terms of their character?
Despite the fact that the plays are Murder Mysteries, they are written, in the main, tongue-in-cheek, because we recognise that the audience is there to be entertained as well as intrigued. This also helps if the actors have not had as much time as they would have liked to rehearse the play, and so there are one or two unforeseen slip-ups!
8. How much money can be raised?
This varies, but these events have proved to be very successful in the past, raising hundreds, and event thousands, of pounds for the school, club or charity involved.
9. Can we perform the play more than once?
Yes, you can, as long is the performances are part of the same ‘run.’
10. Can I get further information and, if so, how?
You can easily gain further information by emailing info@murdermysteryplayers.co.uk or telephoning 01923 72 02 51 when we shall only be too pleased to answer any of your questions.
Happy sleuthing! We look forward to hearing from you.