Everyone is happy to be there, until they learn that the host has been ungracious enough to die on the very evening when they all arrive. Worse yet, the butler dies in a fiery explosion and a storm knocks out the bridge back to the mainland. The guests are left trying to figure out who has murdered the butler, but his demise is not the only one of the evening!
The audience has to keep guessing who the killer is as well as who will be alive at the end of the play. This is all in fun and some of the songs the cast sing are truly hilarious. The director, Thomas Oulette, felt from the first time he read the script that he'd enjoy finding "inventive ways to make [the audience] laugh." The one means of murder that this mystery doesn't employ is having someone die laughing.
One challenge that Oulette noted was that in movies film technology has allowed some truly magnificent special effects. The theatre company does a good job in pulling off some stunning visual effects of their own; adding to the fun of the whole show.
"Something's Afoot" is a great production, one that you certainly don't want to miss and if you bring your WPI ID, tickets are discounted from the usual $20 to $7 before each show. For show times, call the box office at 754-4018. Next Tuesday the theatre is celebrating "Coffeehouse at Foothills Theatre" where for an hour before the 8:00 show you can sample coffee from local coffee houses like: The Kona Cafe, Coco Bean, Coffee Kingdom and Cafe Giacomo among others.
Give feedback: newspeak@wpi.wpi.edu