Tigerslane Studios has revealed that a third season of its true-crime series Murder Trial Tonight—The Doorstep Case is to tour the UK and Ireland.
The company takes a true story and stages a live murder trial, “immersing the audience in a fast-paced courtroom experience”. As members of the jury, the audience plays a crucial role in the murder mystery, delivering a verdict as to whether the accused is guilty or not. Footage of the murder is then shown to establish whether the jury reached the correct verdict.
“This isn’t just a theatre play, it’s a social experiment,” said the show’s director Graham Watts. “We aim to challenge perceptions and engage our audience in a way that goes beyond traditional theatre.”
In its first year, the show played 142 shows to more than 85,000 audience members in 65 venues in five countries.
The cast features three actors returning from series two: Karren Winchester who plays the judge, prosecutor Ian Houghton and Alex Kapila who plays the defence barrister.
Winchester, who played the prosecutor in series one, took the role of the Nurse in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for Midsummer Scene in Dubrovnik where she had previously played Gertrude in Hamlet. Other theatre includes Mrs Boyle in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap for Vienna’s English Theatre.
Kapila, who is switching sides from the defence to the prosecution, has appeared at theatres including Birmingham Rep, Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre, Wales Millennium Centre and Derby Theatre.
Houghton has been in productions in the West End and on tour. In 2012, he appeared in Men are from Mars Women are from Venus, a stage adaptation based on John Gray's book.
Murder Trial Tonight—The Doorstep Case will open on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 February at Wyvern Theatre, Swindon. It will then go to Wycombe, Exeter, Barnstaple, Cambridge, Ipswich, Southampton, Birmingham, Blackpool, Warrington, Manchester, Southend, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Nottingham, Liverpool, Crewe, Peterborough, Cardiff, Chelmsford, Fareham, York, Sheffield, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Leicester, Bath, Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Reading, Bromley, Coventry and Golders Green Hippodrome, London until Saturday 7 June.