Who doesn’t like a classic whodunnit? Well, we’re in luck as Murder Village serves up a banger.

Anticipation builds as the audience waits eagerly on the doorstep of the Little Palais and a chap dressed as a (bumbling) 1950s detective emerges and gives us the opportunity to choose the murder victim, the murderer, the murder weapon and a vital clue. The most popular choices then inform the devilishly talented cast of improvisers and away we go.

The cast of characters may change and obviously, the murder story changes for every show but essentially the winning formula endures and the audience is served a delicious murder every time.

The success of the show is down to the performers and they were so clearly enjoying themselves that it was infectious. Hammy acting, convoluted storylines, unadulterated silliness, physical comedy and so on – the whole range from the improv repertoire.

David Massingham as director of the show played the detective and provided narration and cluelessness; Louisa Fitzhardinge was the clever amateur sleuth and threw in plenty of her trademark puns which although decidedly groanworthy were a delight because of her arch delivery; Amy Moule, Jason Geary, Esther Longhurst and Kathryn Tohill were the main cast with each of them having a lot of fun with their characters.

I particularly liked Amy’s facial expressions and Kathryn’s accent when talking about her ‘buns’. In the background was David Peake on keyboards who provided an atmospheric soundtrack to add to the intrigue.

The Melbourne-based group have been up and running with this show since 2018 but this is the debut at FRINGE WORLD. The show is a hoot, even when (or maybe especially when) you can see what is coming. Some of the most enjoyable bits were when the actors realised they had to get things back on track, having forgotten then remembered what they had improvised earlier!

The crew from Improvised Whodunnit have created ‘murder most fair’ – I’d highly recommend getting along and joining in the fun.