Review by Katrina Couzens of Murder at the Bowlo presented by Improv Queensland
Murder at the Bowlo delivers exactly what it says on the tin. There is a murder. It happens at a bowls club. You interact with a quirky cast of the exact kinds of characters you might expect to see at a bowlo, from skeevy book-cooking club presidents to salt-of-the-earth boozers. And if you solve the murder quick enough, you’re in with a chance at winning the classic bowlo trivia prize: a meat tray.
The characters and theming of this show were excellent; tongue-in-cheek, full of flavour. But I have to admit, after having seen and loved Improv Queensland’s new show How to Seduce Your Dragon, this one fell a little flat. The murder mystery format itself limits what I see to be the strengths of this troupe. Rather than feeding off each other, and responding to audience curveballs, characters were nearly always isolated with small chunks of audience all trying to figure out the same set of questions that would lead them to the right answer for their whodunnit sheet.
The investigation itself was limited by the layout of the room. Large tables spread people out, so listening in to other conversations was difficult (made even harder by the echoey acoustics of the room itself). Tables, chairs, and indecisive audience members (of which I include myself) created clutter that made it hard to move around. And since the audience was disposed to stay anchored to their seats, the characters were anchored to the clutter. The effect was a large space, artificially crowded.
The best moments of the show were the interactions between the performers, both staged and incidental (though the latter kind were few, fleeting, and often tantalisingly out of earshot). I would have loved for the main mechanic for investigation to be wandering around the room, eavesdropping and observing characters as they furthered their own goals. Instead, I felt like a constant intruder, butting into other people’s conversations, asking questions dozens before me had clearly already asked.
This style of audience-driven investigative interactive theatre could work great as a backdrop to another event; it would make audience members move around more fluidly and organically, and give them something to do when they’re not actively investigating. But in the context of a show, the game itself is a hinderance, and the bones of a great comedy-mystery are buried under busywork.
