Stage Review - A Murder is Announced (Edmonds Driftwood Players)
Stage Review - A Murder is Announced
Presented By: Edmonds Driftwood Players - Edmonds, WA
Show Run: September 18 - October 11, 2026
Date Reviewed: Friday, September 18, 2026 (Opening Night)
Run Time: 2 Hours (including at 15-minute intermission)
Reviewed by: Doug Knoop
Imagine, one October morning, you open your local newspaper and in the personals column, you discover a notice stating that a murder will take place tonight…in your very own home! This is the announcement that sets the mystery in motion in the tiny English village of Chipping Cleghorn in “A Murder is Announced,” the 68th season opener at the Edmonds Driftwood Players.
First published in 1950, this story comes from “the Queen of crime” Agatha Christie, and anyone familiar with her work knows they are in for an evening of lies, deceit, and more than likely a dead body (or two). As a longtime Christie fan, I knew we would be in for a great story, but what the audience got on opening night was a crisp and efficient staging of a clever murder mystery.
Director Susan McIntyre sets a brisk pace and tone in the first scene when the notice is discovered and most of the residents of Little Paddocks are introduced. Then the hour arrives, the lights go out, gunshots are fired and a body is discovered.
The next day an Inspector arrives to question everyone, and we’re off. The suspect/guest list includes landlady Letitia Blacklock, her childhood friend and companion, her young cousins, a horticulturist, a housemaid, a neighbor and her son, and Christie’s famous small town amateur sleuth, Miss Marple.
Brian Harper makes an excellent Inspector Craddock with plenty of stodginess and bluster, but laced with knowing humor. Isaac Boekelheide provides some goofy bumbling as his sidekick Sergeant Mellors.
Ingrid Sanai Buron’s maid Mitzi also doles out the humor. Whether she’s serving food, introducing guests or complaining about her workload, Buron brightens up the stage with her presence. Duncan Thorvilson and Amanda Marquis Petrowski play Letitia’s distant twenty-something cousins, full of carefree exuberance and guile, while Carol Richmond plays companion Bunny to the fluttery hilt. Melody Mistlin’s Miss Marple offers some great observations and pleasant support to the inspector, but in this adaptation of the story, is more of a minor character. Simrit Hans, Carol Wieltschnig and Jaret Miller round out the cast as characters with (possibly) vital information.
Top marks have to go to Shannon Kipp as Letitia, the landlady trying her best to cope with the realities swirling around her. Watch as she goes from reluctant to sad to glib. She brings an incredible presence that anchors the production.
Kudos also go to Ella Tennant Swenson’s beautiful costumes, Rex Goulding and Nancy Johnson’s set, Henry S Brown Jr’s sound design, Gwyn Skone’s lighting, Viswanath Padmanabhan and Corbitt Loch’s properties design, and dialect coach Karen Skrinde.
Keep those eyes and ears peeled, there are clues everywhere (an observant audience member’s comment at intermission made my suspicions lean toward a particular character). You won’t get any hints from me. Half the fun in any Christie mystery is in the discovery.
The Edmonds Driftwood Players production of A Murder is Announced runs through October 11. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org/shows-tickets/.
Photo credit: Maleah Nicole Photography
