The woman everybody loves to hate

Part of what makes a production successful is somehow catching the right ambiance. And the Lorne Akins’ Drama Club has created just the right mood for its upcoming production of CafĂ© Murder on Wednesday, June 10.

Co-directors Sheena Priddle and Darleen Ferguson are setting the murder mystery as a dinner-theatre style production where the audience is an extended part of the café eating cookies and squares and drinking various beverages.

In this one-act comedy by Nathan Hartswick, Rosemary Saint-John is a loud, annoying hypochondriac convinced she is allergic to water. Celebrating her birthday at a restaurant with her four kooky sisters — a hippie, a valley girl, a trucker and a banker — Rosemary has a knack for making enemies of everyone around her.

She’s abrasive with the waitress, alienates the maitre d’ and insults the chef. Rosemary is a woman everybody loves to hate and who better to murder? “In a surprise ending, the lights go out and you hear a scream,” says Priddle.

When Rosemary disappears and is presumed murdered, it is up to the audience, the only objective witnesses, to catch the murderer and cast a vote.

Is it one of the wacky sisters pushed beyond the point of annoyance? Is it the detective who has something to hide? Is it the French chef infuriated when his talents are insulted? Is it the waitress with an axe to grind?

Each of the nine actors is suspect in this 45-minute production, which concludes with audience participation. “It’s really very funny. There are a lot of little comments that the kids can play with.”

For more information on this all-ages production visit www.lajh.spschools.org.