Murder for Two: Countless Suspects: Endless Chaos: Enormous Fun!

Murder for Two, currently bringing mayhem to the stage of the SJT in Scarborough, is a magnificently hyperactive theatrical pastiche: a mad jangle of genres, styles, and tropes that borrows from, celebrates and burlesques, a whole century of popular entertainment - from the silent movie era to the thoroughly modern musical.

American musical comedy creators Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, self-described fans of 1930s’ screwball comedies, reportedly asked themselves: ‘What if the Marx Brothers did an Agatha Christie story?’ That improbably fertile idea sparked the veritable cornucopia of corn masquerading as a serious whodunnit, which premiered at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (sic) in 2011 and has delighted audiences ever since.

Director Caroline Leslie inventively adds a very British layer of hilarity to this distinctly American artefact by setting the SJT-Bolton Octagon co-production in a Goons-era BBC radio studio - a playground for inventive auditory gags, framed as a last-minute live broadcast. This conceit neatly explains why the two hapless actors, gloriously embodied by Tom Babbage and Lucy Keirl, perform with minimal preparation, aided only by the primitive sound effects that once formed the atmospheric backbone of unseen drama.

As for the plot - such as it is - it begins with the murder of acclaimed novelist Arthur Whitney at his own surprise birthday party. The clues are few and the suspects many: a grieving widow, a sharp-witted niece, a German psychiatrist, a bickering Brooklyn couple, a children’s choir, and a posturing prima ballerina. All are brought to life with reckless abandon by the magnificent Keirl, whose elastic facial expressions and virtuosic vocal gymnastics render each instantly distinct and endlessly amusing. Babbage, no less brilliant, is the would-be detective tasked with cracking the case.

At its most anarchic, it seems to me the show above all channels the spirit of Hellzapoppin’, that seminal film which gleefully overturned narrative coherence in favour of pure comic invention, breaking the fourth wall and embracing chaos. One can easily imagine it written with Scarborough’s theatre-in-the-round staging in mind.

While the frenzy is loosely grounded in the mechanics of a classic whodunit, Murder for Two gleefully spoofs the solemnity of traditional murder mysteries. Meanwhile, Babbage’s bungling detective - trench coat-togged, trilby firmly in place - winks at the hardboiled heroes of American radio drama and pulp fiction (Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Philo Vance, Mike Hammer), his wise-cracking narration and Lieutenant-Drebinesque self-seriousness constantly undercut by incongruity of circumstance.

Rapid-fire character switching, stylised choreography (courtesy of movement director Emily Holt), physical comedy, and musical interludes place the production firmly in the lineage of vaudeville and music hall. Exaggerated characters and improbable situations evoke farce and pantomime, while the manic energy of silent-era slapstick - Keystone Cops included - collides with the precision timing of Abbott and Costello. Even entrances and exits are choreographed for maximum comic effect, turning every movement into a ringing punchline.

At times, you might say the whole enterprise seems to condense the cinematic chaos of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World into a two-person tour de force, while briefly flirting with the tension of thrillers like The Sixth Sense, only to puncture it with a perfectly-timed pratfall straight out of Looney Tunes.

Musically, the score is both homage and parody, nodding to Kurt Weill’s sardonic cabaret while embracing Broadway conventions. The gleefully macabre treatment of the ever-present corpse recalls Little Shop of Horrors, transforming morbidity into playful spectacle. At the centre sits the piano, instrument, prop, and narrative engine, its dazzling four-hand duets evocative of the Marx Brothers’ anarchic spirit. The final encore, a deliberately anything-but-pianissimo extravaganza, evokes a Laurel and Hardy-style vaudeville turn.

Tom Babbage Photo: © Tony Bartholomew

Lucy Keirl Photo: © Tony Bartholomew

Production values of the highest order sharpen the chaos ensuing in Jess Curtis’s richly detailed set, under Jane Lalljee’s lighting, with the musical direction of Simon Slater punctuating each madcap beat. But the final word of praise must go to the indefatigable Tom Babbage and Lucy Keirl, two consummate actor-singer-musicians, on stage throughout, who carry the entire enterprise with astonishing dexterity. Their seamless character shifts, lively interplay, and fearless improvisation - particularly in the second half - heighten the comedy and forge a palpable connection with the audience, who applauded throughout, and long and loud at the end.

This, theatre-goers, might well be the best thing you will see on stage this year. Certainly, you won’t experience anything else quite like it.

Murder for Two Tom Babbage and Lucy Keirl Photo: © Tony Bartholomew

Murder For Two, by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, is at the Stephen Joseph Theatre until 18th April,2026.