Number 12 Henrietta St, a beautiful Georgian mansion, was resurrected in all its former glory as Trinity Arts Festival (TAF) and DU Players teamed up to present a black-tie murder mystery. The entire building was decadently decorated with candle-lit lanterns lining the stairs and floral arrangements adorning the mantelpiece of the smouldering fire. The fireside was rarely left unattended as the building itself, although visually stunning, was freezing cold. One could argue that it all added to the mystique of the murder committed in cold blood.
The luminously dressed attendants gathered from 8pm in the upstairs rooms of the building, enjoying a generous wine selection while waiting for the show to begin. The atmosphere was jovial as the crowd wholly embraced their inner flâneurs, with the room reminiscent of a 1930s Parisian salon. The characters first introduced themselves: we met F Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Walt Disney and Judy Garland, Coco Chanel and Marlene Dietrich, Le Corbusier and Eileen Gray, Sartre and De Beauvoir, Edith Piaf and Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce and finally, the great adventurer, Ernest Hemingway. This illustrious line-up of the most prominent literati of the time maintained their characters throughout, not breaking once, even when on the hunt for one of those snazzy-looking new lighters.
Our puzzle began with the sudden death of both the Fitzgeralds and with the removal of their bodies the investigation ensued. The characters were free to roam around the building, each accusing the others of foul-play and swearing their innocence. The very fine detective, Orson Welles, would interject every 20 minutes with a new clue to help the investigation along. It was a difficult conundrum, the primary suspects being Chaplin, Disney and Garland for quite some time. Theories surrounding double-suicide, the means to summon Satan and the meaning of the word “instrument” arose within the crowd.
The most telling clue was one that pointed out the Nazi sympathizers amongst the guests. This narrowed down the choices and exponentially spurred on the investigation. As the evening drew to a close, although this writer was personally clueless, a few bands of investigators seemed to smell a rat. These were the Hercule Poirots and Miss Marples amongst us.
When finally gathered back in the room where it had all begun, the mystery was solved – it was Coco Chanel and Marlene Dietrich who had killed the Fitzgeralds. Chanel’s motive for doing so was jealousy – she had been having a fling with Mr Fitzgerald and had smelt her own brand perfume on his wife. Dietrich’s reasoning was to silence Mr Fitzgerald as he found out that she had been making weapons for the Nazis and thus threatened to expose her. The duo used poison to kill them. The top detectives and winners of the much coveted Trinity Ball ticket were Millie Walters and Deirbhile Brennan. Although bitter that I had been led astray by many false leads, the event itself was a spectacular success.
The plot was expertly scripted by the Valentine Boys (Sam Killian, Jimmy Kavanagh and Robbie Doyle), and the characters skillfully played by members of DU Players. A wholly immersive theatrical experience, TAF and Players really put on a show.
