The Mystery of Mr E – a murder mystery musical!
SANCTON WOOD SCHOOL HALL – 6, 7, 8 & 9 DECEMBER 2017
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WRITTEN BY Sophie Hannah
DIRECTED BY Mrs Cowen
MUSIC COMPOSED BY Dr. Armitage
FEATURING STUDENTS FROM YEARS 7 – 11
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We’re delighted to announce that the Sancton Wood Christmas play will be a brand new and completely original murder mystery musical! The Mystery of Mr. E – which can best be described as Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap meets Tim Minchin’s Matilda – has never been performed before, so its Sancton Wood student cast will be the first actors ever to star in it!
After its stage debut at Sancton Wood, the play will then, in 2018, be performed by other schools. Two have expressed a strong interest already. It will also embark upon an international tour of literary festivals and theatres. We’re planning its non-school/adult-cast premiere at ‘Norwich’, Norwich’s Crime Writing Festival, in September 2018, for example, and the Emirates Festival of Literature in Dubai has expressed an interest in staging it in either 2018 or 2019. Talks with a west-end producer are underway, with a view to finding out how best to arrange a national theatre tour. Each venue will obviously sort out its own cast, or else a touring company will be assembled – don’t worry, your child is not about to whisked around on a private jet singing about suspects and motives, from Taunton to Timbuktu! Having said that, there is possibly a chance for Sancton Wood children – other commitments permitting – to play the two main children’s roles in the play when it appears in other places, and to be the chorus in those performances that are within reach – e.g. Norwich festival in September 2018. Everything is at a very early stage at the moment, but we’re very excited about it!
The Mystery of Mr E is very much an in-house creation, with a libretto by a Sancton Wood parent and music by a Sancton Wood teacher. And your amazing children will be the stars of the show! So please encourage them to audition when auditions are announced!
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‘I’d much prefer to solve a mystery!’ Oscar Landrigan
