Hijinks and Caviar is a comedy, murder mystery musical by the writing duo Moody & Moody. Set in 1930’s England, to a big-band style original score, A night of murder mystery fun, with a side helping of ridiculousness
Following closely in the style of the much-loved family board game, Hijinks and Caviar takes all the fun of Cluedo and brings it to the stage. Unlike most musicals, this one does not begin with the classic opening number, but rather a sombre funeral scene that quickly decants into chaos as Lord Shyttevigge (David Hett) declares that he believes his wife was murdered and hatches a plan to invite all those he suspects to a dinner party and investigate for himself.
We meet each guest one at a time as they introduce themselves through a musical number of their own, a pattern that quickly becomes predictable and rather stale, taking up most of act one. This would benefit from being significantly reduced, especially as most of the plot points take place in Act Two and the show would lend itself nicely to a much shorter running time. There is a huge amount of information packed into the final 15 or so minutes, which kind of renders everything before it as obsolete. A lot of that information needed to be drip-fed to the audience throughout the story to allow for any form of following along and solving the mystery for ourselves. As it stands, we seemed to watch things conclude out of nowhere, with very little story development.
Moody & Moody deliver some cracking numbers with cleverly witty lyrics, catchy orchestrations and some lovely group number arrangements. The script is engaging and humorous, littered with comic wordplay.
Unfortunately, rather than being subtly complimented by technical elements, the amateurish lighting design consisted mostly of a general wash that spilt way outside the playing space and detracted from the performance having areas brightly lit that were not being used at the time. The transitions between scenes and locations were clunky and rather messy.
The show contains an inappropriate reference to the character Pastor Verdi having a speech impediment, and how that is somehow unattractive. Not only is this a pretty unimportant plot point that frankly only exists for a cheap laugh, but it is also put on by the actor which is hugely inappropriate and I’m astonished that people are still deeming faking disabilities as acceptable in 2024.
It’s hard to believe that Hijinks and Caviar is her professional debut, but Hayley Pettitt delivers a standout performance in the role of Lady Longfeather. Affectionately dubbed as the ‘matriarch of the community’, she tries and fails to hide her drinking problem and as we watch her get more and more inebriated throughout the show, Hayley hilariously ups her acting to match. Alice Underdown has a gorgeous voice, and her solo number as Cherry Tree was one of my favourites. Brian Holmes portrays Inspector Doright with charming naivety, his really intense stupidity and oblivion bringing some of the best comedic moments in the show. Lisa Rouselle also delivered some fantastic comedic timing in the role of Amy, aka ‘Maid’ as she is regularly referred to.
All in all, the show was a bit of fun for a night out, although I’d probably rather choose to be at home in my pyjamas with the Cluedo board out.
It runs until 26 October.
Review: Rachel Sarah Leveney