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A local theatre company, Mountain Murder Mysteries, is currently performing its latest gangster-style show, Marriage to the Mob, in something of a unique venue: underground at Jenolan Caves.
The original idea, says Central West based writer, actor and director Melissa Docker, was to stage their dinner performances in the Chisholm dining room of Caves House (itself named after the ghost of a former housemaid, a Miss Chisholm). This worked well, but there was always a far more stunning location right under their feet.
“This led quite naturally to the idea of adapting them as underground performances that included a cave tour,” Melissa says.
Audiences are escorted by a caves guide into the huge natural subterranean amphitheatre of the Cathedral chamber inside the Jenolan’s largest show cave, the Lucas Cave. Here the spectators are seated for the first act of the play, after which they are taken through the cave to the final - and appropriately named - Bone Chamber where the denouement of the drama is played out. During this final Act audience members are encouraged to guess ‘whodunit’. Melissa and her cast have now been performing these shows regularly in the caves for the last two years, and continue to enjoy the experience as much as the audiences do.
“The Caves, while providing a spectacular natural setting for theatre, can also boast acoustics that are near perfect,” Melissa says.
There are, however, challenges unique to performing underground:
“Although the extraordinary cave formations are lit up by electric lights additional lighting equipment is necessary for staging performances and this equipment has to be set up and taken down by the actors before and after every show. Props for performances also have to be brought into the caves each time by the actors with no possibility of dashing back to the dressing room if some essential item like the murder weapon has been forgotten!”
These Murder Mysteries were originally devised by Melissa to be improvised by actors from given storylines.
“I was aware of the popular ‘Host a Murder’ dinners at which groups of friends play out murder mystery scenarios and became interested to see how such scenarios could worked into scripted plays performed by actors, creating a kind of modern ‘whodunit’. Mountain Murder Mysteries’ shows include some audience participation and audience members are encouraged to help solve the crime in Act Two.”
“The style of theatre would best be described as a mix of comedy and drama with the proximity between performer and audience in both dinner and cave shows being much closer than in the usual theatre setting.”
The actors who comprise Mountain Murder Mysteries are all based in the Blue Mountains and Central West. Maudie Green trained at NIDA and has extensive stage experience. Ken Bromilow also sings with the Mountain Opera Chorus and Paul Newton has acted in numerous productions with local theatre companies.
Melissa’s own career in theatre began at age nine when her family moved to the UK for eight years and she began training in drama and classical ballet at stage school in London.
“I performed the child lead and danced in the children’s corps de ballet of the English National Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker over three years,” she recalls.
Since then she has acted mainly in film, television and radio in Australia and the UK, and in theatre wherever possible along the way. During a return visit to England, working as an actress in London, Melissa began writing short plays. She established Mountain Murder Mysteries in 2010, after moving to the tiny village of Hampton near Oberon.
“I write the Murder Mystery scripts from storylines and plots that include plenty of red herrings and together with the actors the scripts are further developed in rehearsal. The process is ongoing since we are always playing with and exploring new ideas,” Melissa says.
Now at the helm of her own in-demand theatre company, the plan for the rest of this year is to continue performing Murder Mysteries monthly on Saturdays at Jenolan and dinner shows at some of the larger hotels, resorts and country clubs in the Blue Mountains and Central West.
“I’m also looking forward to producing other plays I’ve written with productions in Bathurst and Mudgee on the agenda,” Melissa says.
The next performance of Marriage to the Mob is on Saturday June 1 at Jenolan Caves. 1300 763 311 for tickets.
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