THE SOUND OF MURDER by Carol Kaufman Segal     

            

Theatre 40 seems to put on one murder mystery each season, and this season is no exception.  On opening night, the audience loved every minute of The Sound of Murder, written by William Fairchild.  The play is well-written, very well directed by Adrian Cohen, and performed by talented actors whose British accents are never lost.  It keeps an audience in suspense until the “final curtain.”

            

The play takes place in the home of Charles Norbury (David Hunt Stafford) and his wife Anne (Kate Whitney) in Surrey, England (lovely set by Jeff G. Rack).  Charles is a very successful author of children’s books.  After “meeting” him, it behooves one to figure out how he manages to be so successful in his field, as he despises children and simply anyone but himself and that includes Anne.

           

Charles has treated his wife viciously throughout their marriage and refuses to have children with her.  (He once forced her to have an abortion.)  Anne finds comfort in a relationship with Peter Marriot (Gabriel Oliva) and asks Charles for a divorce so that she and Peter can get married and have a family that they both want.  But Charles refuses to let her divorce him claiming it would ruin him professionally since parents must look upon him as a “family man”.

            

When Anne and Peter realize there is no future for them together as long as Charles is alive, they devise a plan to kill him.  Before they are able to carry out their intent, Charles’ secretary, Miss Forbes (Roslyn Cohn), shows up at the Norbury’s home to type Charles’ latest work when she realizes Charles forgot to stop his tape recorder the last time he was taping his latest novel.  When she begins to listen to it, she becomes aware that she is hearing Anne and Peter as they were developing their plan.  Miss Forbes keeps mum about her discovery!

            

What will happen to all of these people if and when the plan is executed?  You will be surprised by all that does occur in this unique mystery that finally reveals all in the end.  Other members of the cast include Peter Trencher as Inspector Davidson and David Westray as Police Constable Nash.  When murder is involved, there is a need for law enforcement!

            

The Sound of Murder plays Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 2 PM, through April 14, at the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills.  Tickets are available by calling (310)) 364-0535, or online at www.theatre40.org.