"Deadly Murder"

October 7, 2019 — Camille (Wendi Yellin) is a skilled jewelry designer whose talent has lifted her from her humble beginnings to proprietor of her own highly successful business in New York and a luxurious apartment. Her only vice is a weakness for handsome young men. As the play opens, it's morning, and Billy (TJ Lamando), Camille's latest catch, is standing in Camille's apartment bare-chested, wearing only a towel.

Billy gets dressed, Camille prepares breakfast, their conversation is playful at first but takes a sinister turn when Billy reveals a knowledge of Camille's past she has carefully safeguarded. How does he know these things? As Billy becomes threatening, Camille orders him from her apartment. When he refuses to leave, Camille calls Ted (Thomas Daniels), the building security guard. Billy overpowers Ted, knocks him out, and gets possession of his gun. There's a warning in the show's program that there will be gunshots during the performance. I counted three, or maybe four, over the course of the two acts. To quote a famous Clint Eastwood line, "In all the excitement, I kind of lost count."

Yellin, Lamando and Daniels do a great job of carrying this tense, at times humorous, drama of double-crosses and switches, so many that any of your guesses as to where it's headed will almost certainly be wrong. There are several well-choreographed scenes of violence. Fortunately, the most gruesome act occurs out of sight of the audience. All I'll say is there's a lot of blood. Does the suitcase really contain a body? How can there be two murders in the cast of three, but two remain standing at the end?

I don't think "Deadly Murder," written by David Foley, rises to the level of Agatha Christie's best work, but it was fun. This production was staged at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith, New Hampshire, and directed by Tyler Christie (no relation to Agatha). The set was designed by Hannah Joy Hopkins and costumes by DW.

"The Penelopiad"

October 6, 2019 — I'm late reviewing this play because, frankly, it was so original and unconventional I had trouble putting my impressions into words, except that I enjoyed it immensely. Performed at the Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, by theatre KAPOW, "The Penelopiad" is based on the novella by Margaret Atwood, author of "The Handmaid's Tale."

Directed by Matt Cahoon, one of the tKAPOW co-founders, the play is a re-telling of The Odyssey from Penelope's point of view from Hades with her twelve maids, thousands of years after the events of Homer's tale. Carey Cahoon is featured in the role of Penelope. She also designed the costumes and set. The rest of the all-female cast plays multiple roles, both male and female.

With musical accompaniment and dances, Penelope reminisces about her life and experiences at the time of the Odyssey. It was another of the caliber of performances that have won Cahoon the New Hampshire Theatre Award for best actress in several past performances. Could this be another? She's on-stage almost without interruption for the entire play, with volumes of dialog. Her child-birth scene alone is worthy of a Tony Award.

Also appearing were Emma Cahoon, Gina Carballo, Jamie Clavet, Teddi May Kenick-Bailey, Heidi Krantz, Rachael Chapin Longo, Sheree Owens and Katie Proulx, an impressive collection of talent. Musicians were Jake Hudgins, Jennifer Perkins-Sciolla and Sam Sarel. Choreography was by Lorraine Chapman. Tayva Young, as she has in many tKAPOW productions, enhanced the play with her exquisite
lighting design.