Saturday, June 19, 2004
'Murder by Hypnosis' is over-the-top silly, with more than a little low-brow sexual humor.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- Foolishness was up front and center in "Murder by Hypnosis," a bawdy audience-participation dinner theater murder mystery/comedy playing at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex.
If you like your mysteries over-the-top silly, with more than a little low-brow sexual humor, this play is for you. But, it definitely is not for young children.
For example, awards given to audience members included "my time of the month" to a guy named Floyd. Others were the "company loyalty," or "how brown can your nose get?" award, and the "shortest skirt," or "a thong gone wrong" award.
"Murder by Hypnosis" is set at the annual employee recognition dinner of the Bennett Out of Options Brokerage Co. (BOOBCO). BOOBCO president, Bob Bennett, and his wife, Barbara, have created an evening of food and frivolity for their workers, which goes awry when Bennett is stabbed to death on stage.
It is revealed under trances induced by Swedish hypnotist Sven Golly (David Il'Hatton) that plenty of people had a motive to kill Bennett (Ed McAtee).
Whodunnit?
The who is obvious to the audience. The question is why and was anyone else involved. These questions are pondered by Miss Maypole, a British sleuth portrayed wildly by -- well, you can be surprised.
Suspects include Bennett's wife (Denise Sculli), who has designs on Sven; employees Billy Ball (Brian Suchora) and Barry Babcock (Jim Petuch), both of whom thoroughly dislike their boss; and the entertainers brought in for the company party, Sven and his ditzy, busty French assistant Bibi Bouchez (Sara Klimenko).
Standout performers were John Cox, who learned some difficult dialogue in only one week after replacing an actor who became ill, and Petuch, who sang several songs quite well while playing the gay Babcock.
At the end of the performance, the audience was asked to figure out whodunnit.
Prizes
Prizes were given to several audience members for the best and most original, if not correct, answers and even one for the right answer.
"Murder by Hypnosis" is produced by Main Course Murder, Dinner to Die For. It was written by Jan Kennedy, a writer for the Canton Repository, who also penned "A Cannoli Caper," previously put on at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex.
"Murder by Hypnosis" is directed by Patricia M. Fagan. Starr E. McClure is stage manager and technical director.
And because this is a dinner theater, a word about the food: It was good.
alcorn@vindy.com