Synopsis
"It was the kind of night when you caught yourself holding your breath for no reason at all." So says private eye Harry Monday as he investigates three murders at the Peaceful Pines Sanitarium. Even the police are getting tired of coming out and ask Doctor Morrissey if he could just phone in the details. Then when Tara, a sultry soon-to-be-heiress, shows up, Harry puts his best foot forward... right in his mouth. "Odd how relatives always head up a suspect list," he notes as the deceased's families arrive. Odder still when he finds out they all belong to the same family! Harry finds it tough going when he tries to determine who killed an old sea captain, a ventriloquist and a tramp. What did these three have in common? And why would lawyer Lilly Dramkean get involved in shady legalities? Or Larramore take a night off on the date when the murders took place? And how come no one can ever keep track of socialite Mary Tobias, "One of those dames from Who's Who who don't know what's what," Harry says. Throw in an Indian, a Swedish gardener and a disgruntled nurse and the confusion multiplies. This lightning-paced comedy/mystery comes complete with its own lightning as a storm blows out all the fuses...and the murders keep coming! In this spoof on the old-style private-eye movies, the laughs are fast and furious...and the ending will simply kill you!
Notes
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Details
-
Status
In stock
- Type of Show Full-length Play
- Product Code T82000
- Cast Size 9
- Min. Royalty Rate $110/perf
- Cost $11.95
- Approx. Run Time 90 min
Categories
- Target Audience High School | College and Adult | Family (all ages) | Senior Adults
- Performing Group Middle School | High School | College Theatre | Community Theatre | Professional Theatre | Senior Theatre | Touring Group | Dinner Theatre
- Genre Comedy
- ISBN(13) 9780871290687
Customer Reviews
- "The students had a fun time rehearsing and performing "Three Murders and It's Only Monday" and the audience loved it. The hilarious mystery/comedy kept the audience laughing and kept them guessing. It's so funny -- it's scary!"
- Review by Beverly Brennan, Hazleton Area High School, Hazleton, PA
- "We put on Three Murders and It's Only Monday and received rave reviews. We had 8 X 10 pictures of the cast in character complete with masks and had people guess who the murderer was. Of course no one guessed correctly."
- Review by Charmaine Huxted, Sylvania Parkland Players, Sylvania, Saskatchewan, Canada
- "Love this play! The humor, both physical and wit are in good balance. Easy set, easy costumes, very few propsÑlighting was challenging for our particular facility, but not impossible. The cast (high schoolers) were "jazzed" from first practice to production."
- Review by Merilee Bales, Perry High School, Perry, Iowa
- "Three Murders and It's Only Monday is a pun-upon-pun comedy murder mystery with characters dropping like flies. Add audience involvement and you have a guaranteed enjoyable evening that keeps the audience guessing."
- Review by Ron Barnett, St. Helens High School, St. Helens, Ore.
- "Our most successful dinner theatre ever!"
- Review by Larry Pint, Curtain Call Theater, New Prague, Minn.
- "What fun, crisp dialogue! Lots of action and suspense with a simple set and interesting characters. Over the top comedy!"
- Review by Anne Stumhofer, Family Theatre, Columbus, Ga.
- "Hilarious and nonstopÑthe show is fast and full of crisp one-liners."
- Review by Anne Stumhofer, Pacelli High School, Columbus, Ga.
- "We had an absolute blast for the 2 1/2 months we worked on this playÑthe humour was simple and almost steady. The mystery was never obvious until the end, as to whodunnit. The character variety was so fun to work with; our cast had so much fun."
- Review by Cheryl Bach, Jansen Dinner Theatre Club, Jansen, Saskatchewan, Canada
- "The first act is a laugh-a-minute riot and the second act settles into a nice murder mystery who-dunnit. The ending is as much a surprise as the trombone player's demise is hilarious! My honors theatre class loved it!"
- Review by Joshua Scott, Hibriten High School, Lenoir, N.C.
Hints, Tips, and Tricks
- "The timing and lighting are very important in this play. We had to incorporate three spotlights at start and of course Harry's at center front was used frequently."
- Tip by Charmaine Huxted, Sylvania Parkland Players, Sylvania, Saskatchewan, Canada
- "We used a victorian street light for Harry. Works great as a dessert theatre at intermission along with Red Beard's room set up for the audience."
- Tip by Merilee Bales, Perry High School, Perry, Iowa
- "This play has great opportunities for special light effects. Audiences love murder mysteries because they love to be involved. Including the audience near the end and asking them to vote their suspicions makes for great fun."
- Tip by Ron Barnett, St. Helens High School, St. Helens, Ore.
Production Map
| Location | City | State | Opens | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southridge High School | Kennewick | Washington | 4/21/2023 | 4/29/2023 |
Gallery
Jansen Community Theatre, Jansen, Sask
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