A new comedy drama will be one of three plays in the 2017 Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season in Nottingham which will be performed in two new venues.
As previously announced, the city’s Theatre Royal will be dark for ten weeks during the summer because of unexpected complications with a £3.3 million refurbishment.
There will be three plays instead of the usual four in the season: Frederick Knott’s Dial M For Murder, J B Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, both of which will be performed at Nottingham Playhouse, and Marie Lloyd and the Music Hall Murder, written by Karen Henson, which will be presented in the courtroom of the National Justice Museum (formerly the Galleries of Justice Museum).
Karen Henson from Tabs Productions which is organising the season said, “Dial M for Murder had been on my list of favourites for a while and luckily the show became available just at the right time. You can't get much better than this Frederick Knott/Alfred Hitchcock script.
“Dangerous Corner was also in the top ten suggestions and luckily Stephanie (Sirr) at the Playhouse was very keen, after the success of their 2014 production of Time and the Conways, to present another J B Priestley classic.”
Tabs filmed a promotional trailer for the 2015 Classic Thriller Season in the Galleries of Justice and Henson realised the potential of the museum as a theatre space.
“The court room is very atmospheric but obviously doesn't give us much room for manoeuvre. All established courtroom dramas were either not available or not appropriate to the space, so we decided to create our own.
“I'd always been fascinated by the history of the now-missing Empire Palace Theatre adjoining the Theatre Royal. From there it was a short hop in my mind to music hall and the great Marie Lloyd.
“As a child Joan Hurley, Marie's niece, came to Kings Lynn to direct the Operatic Dramatic Society's production of Annie Get Your Gun. My mother was playing Annie. Marie had bequeathed her famous birdcage to Joan. As a special favour I was allowed to hold the birdcage.
“If Marie Lloyd, queen of the comedy stage, had been appearing at the Empire Palace and had been detained by the Nottingham Constabulary for the wilful murder of a magician, apparently strangled by Marie's garter, she may well have been tried at the Galleries of Justice, mightn't she?”
Dial M For Murder runs from 11 until 15 July, Dangerous Corner from 18 until 22 July and Marie Lloyd and the Music Hall Murder from 25 until 29 July.