Drama society celebrates dine-in murder mystery's sell-out success

Clun Amateur Dramatic Society (CADS) sold out its performance of Just Desserts last month at the Clun Memorial Hall and had lots of good feedback from the audience.

Tim Russell, who chairs CADS, said: “Having never put on this type of event before, it was gratifying to see the response and to hear the feedback from the audience.

"One of the unanticipated benefits of the evening was watching people sharing a table, sometimes with others they had never met before, and working together as a team. I think some new friendships were formed.”

Written by Andrew Hull and directed by Andrew Dobbin, the story revolved around the murder of a famous TV chef on the opening night of his latest venture.

Clun Memorial Hall was arranged as a restaurant with the audience being met as they arrived and shown to their places.

The guests at the top table, people from the chef’s past, were suspects together with his restaurant staff and the audience had to identify who committed the deadly deed and why.

A sumptuous main course and dessert were served during the two intervals, as the audience scrutinised the background notes that had been provided, interrogated the performers and argued among themselves as to the identity of the culprit and their motive.

It was testament to the writer, cast and director that, of the fourteen tables taking part, only two managed to solve the case correctly.

CADS is now planning its next major event for the autumn and will be appearing at several local occasions over the next few months, including the Green Man Festival, the Open Gardens weekend, the Clun Carnival fund raiser and Clun Carnival itself.