Review: Murder at Midnight (Touring)

Tuesday 21st October 2025 at York Theatre Royal

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Torben Betts’ latest play is a companion piece to Murder at Midnight – this time taking comic embellishments and centring them to present a whacky hybrid of violent whodunnit and bedroom farce. It’s an interesting and entertaining mix, but it doesn’t entirely land.

Direction from Philip Franks definitely favours the farcical this time around, and again manages to deliver on Betts’ many unexpected twists and turns – the play is intentionally “ludicrous” and is best described as another “anything goes” ride. Colin Falconer’s designs are in classic bedroom farce territory, too – on two levels covering various rooms and an outside space, meaning the comings and goings of characters and outlandish plot developments are well supported. 

Jason Durr is Jonny – classic Cockney geezer dealing in pork products as a front for his criminal activities. Durr is as swaggering and darkly sardonic as they come, nailing that arm-around-the-next-victim’s shoulders trope perfectly. He’s joined by Susie Blake as his mother, Shirley. As with Murder in the Dark, Blake is masterful in her quirky characterisation, though the characters are very distinct. This time, we’re looking at a woman who sees her son as a Prince, dodgy dealings and all, may or may not have dementia and has a delightful tendency to land flippant shocking commentary as events play out.

On the decidedly farcical side of the table are Max Bowden as bumbling Police Officer Paul – not the brightest and not the best, but fairly comical in his flailing failures. Paul is undercover in a classic case of mining for info about the perp by flirting with the girlfriend. 

Katie McGlynn is the brash, slightly dense Lisa. There’s a tragedy to her role as the unhappy lover lacking in self esteem, but it’s a performance that wouldn’t be out of place as Minchin’s take on Mrs Wormwood in the Matilda musical (for those who know it); lines are wildly overplayed and moments of drama are definitely hammy in nature which does undermine some of the more seemingly dramatic moments.

Callum Balmforth and Peter Moreton do well to cover both sides of the comedy/drama coin, with Balmforth’s Russell a would-be criminal driven by desperation and Moreton’s Trainwreck offering surprisingly humorous sensitivity for a hardened crook. Iryna Poplavska does well in the same vein as carer Cristina – heightened and overplayed for moments of comedy, but with calmer moments driving the plot nicely. 

For me, Murder in the Dark fared far better with the merging of comedy and drama (and did far better for the relish taken with darker moments, too), but again, I can’t deny that I was entertained and kept guessing. There’s plenty of murder and twists, and plenty of gags and farce – it just as a whole lands quite awkwardly between the two genres, though you have to admire the bold vision!

Murder at Midnight is at York Theatre Royal until October 25th 2025 – more information and tickets can be found here.