Slapstick whodunnit comedy in which four actors play a dozen characters as Detective Stuart Pidcock tries to solve the theft of a priceless painting.
A Shoddy Detective and the Art of Deception comes to Devonshire Park Theatre on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 March, both nights starting at 7:30 pm. It's a slapstick whodunnit from Shoddy Theatre and The Production Garden, produced in association with Chelmsford Theatre.
The plot is classic country-house mystery: a priceless painting goes missing from Lord and Lady Raeburn's private auction, and Detective Stuart Pidcock is called in to find it. He can't crack the case on his own, so he's forced to bring in an old nemesis to help him. Together they interrogate the manor's many characterful suspects, and the whole thing is built around a bit of a trick — four actors play a dozen different characters across the chaos, swapping roles as the night goes on.
It's not a new show. It arrives in Eastbourne after sell-out runs at the West End, the Edinburgh Fringe, the Camden Fringe, and the New Normal Festival, as well as a 2023 Spring Tour. Critics have described it as "the classics of comedy brought to the 21st century", "witty, endearing and good clean fun", and "shoddy by name but not shoddy by nature".
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Tickets start from £37, and the theatre is at BN21 4BW.
