MULTIPLE personalities abound in Stagelights’ winter production Murder in Play.

In a change of tack from its normal pantomime, the Grove-based theatre group is staging playwright Simon Brett’s humorous whodunnit which centres on a play within a play Murder at Priorswell Manor.

When the gun being used in the play belongs to someone with a drink problem, Harrison Bracewell, played by David Wise, who seems confused about the difference between live ammunition and blanks, you just know things are going to go awry.

And, to make matters even worse, the firearm is wielded by the Major, whose hand is unsteady as a consequence of shellshock, a role played in the play within a play by the character Tim Fernor (Richard Browning).

The bombastic but rather incompetent director Boris (Ian Dews) is married to the over-the-hill, leading lady Renée Savage (Sally Hadler), but has a reputation for chasing anything in a dress — and has recently seduced Tim’s ex-girlfriend Ginette (Suzie Hanks).

There’s also no love lost between Renée and her rather more successful fellow performer Christa d’Amato (Jill Vale). It’s really only the stage manager and dogsbody Pat (Jayne Henderson) who suffers Boris — and even then she is infuriated by his indifference.

You can also add into the mix the giggly Sophie Lawton (Lizzy Suffling), who has been to drama school and is, therefore, a little miffed at only having a single line in Murder at Priorswell Manor. Making up the cast is Suzie Hanks as Ginette Vincent, the obligatory ingénue.

So, with all those little rivalries and grievances, the scene is set for emotions to spill over from Priorswell Manor into the real world, with the Stagelights cast promising surprises and fun in equal measure from Murder in Play.

The play, which is directed by Chris Osland, has presented a number of interesting challenges for Stagelights, not least that of putting on a production shortly after Christmas, meaning few rehearsals have had the complete cast present.

That has led to a case of life imitating art with actors having to read other characters’ parts as in Murder at Priorswell Manor. With some of the actors already doubling up, when one of the main characters is murdered at the end of Act 1 and another is arrested for the crime, the director Boris doesn’t look for any fresh actors, but doubles up even more, so that one actor ends up playing himself and three other characters.

Not only that, but Boris is so mean that the costumes for the original cast are re-used for the revised cast, meaning Stagelights not only had to find actors who fitted the parts artistically, but many of them also had to be about the same size so they could share the costumes!

And it wasn’t just the costume department that was faced with a challenge — the backstage crew also had to work out how to have an exploding decanter and a cupboard that falls over with someone inside it. Getting it right once might not be a problem, but more so for rehearsals and three performances on the trot.

Murder in Play is being performed at The Old Mill Hall, Grove, from Thursday to Saturday, January 23 to 25, at 7.30pm. Ticket at £8 full price and concessions £6 are available from Bretts, Grove, Cut21 and the Vale and Downland Museum, both Wantage, by calling (01235) 765562 or online at the website: www.stagelightsgroup.org