Defenestrated

Written and directed by Elliot Kinnear with the co-direction of Katie Coates and produced by Laura Martin, the action of ‘Defenestrated’ is centred, unsurprisingly, around a large, imposing window. The action of defenestration is the act of being thrown out of a window. The protagonist, one Richard P Muller, is a strained but brilliant detective. Muller struggles with balancing his personal life and sanity whilst attempting to solve the case of ‘The Man In The Bowler Hat – wanted for multiple counts of murder’, the case which effectively killed his predecessor by self-defenestration.

As a student-written play with a sold-out first night, ‘Defenestrated’ provoked some fairly high expectations. These expectations are not to be disappointed as the wittily precise script, brought to life by actors with serene comic timing, displays an intelligent panache sometimes missing from comic ‘whodunnits’. This is not to say that the comedic elements of the genre were conspicuous by their absence; Kinnear gives us the comic duo, the stereotypical airhead and acerbic one-liners. The production is, at the same time however, not boringly typical of a genre that has produced many greats.

The action begins in a minimalist yet effective office-style set. This is inhabited by Damian Freddie as the fated Jerry Young, whose death precedes the introduction of Muller, played by Lewis Chandler. Freddie and Chandler grasp the difficulty of portraying characters pushed to their limits with both hands. These actors give an enthrallingly believable glimpse into the minds of the intricately obsessive characters scribed by Kinnear. The cast as a whole, too extensively capable to give sufficient specific credits, is consistently comic and poignant in just the right balance. All the actors do justice to the script and one another’s efforts with their enthusiastic proficiency.

A specific gem of a character is Lilly Lipkin, the airhead. The gender parody in this character, who expresses that her favourite colour is pink ‘because I’m a girl’, is hilariously enacted by the enchanting Emilie Smith. Smith, in her dependable attentiveness to every entertaining aspect of the character’s whims and mannerisms, displays that she is anything but the bimbo she depicts. Other intelligent performances come from the comic duo Inspectors Green and Grocer, played by Fred Nathan and Alex Wolfe respectively. The two at first bemuse the audience with complex ‘thinking aloud without thinking’ but deeper elements of the characters are played with skilled gravitas as the plot thickens.

The plot does indeed thicken. One of the very few criticisms that can be levelled at the production is that, after Jerry Young’s death, it opens comically but lacks substance a little, with some initial scenes dragging very slightly. This, however, is completely overturned by the end of the first act, and the constant plot twists and turns in the second act are simply astounding. The second act defies commentary for fear of spoiling the end; however, each new aspect of character and crime revealed adeptly by the whole team provoked audible gasps from the audience. Proficient use of the stage gun, given away by necessary safety signs, is still shocking due to the excellent tension built up technically with use of stark, shiver-inducing sound and lights, which were excellently operated by Michael Wilkins and Laura Ward Nokes.

The true disturbing splendour of this play arises from how well all the aspects work together, to create not just a crime-thriller. Kinnear and his whole team effortlessly portray many aspects of being human, insanity, and ambition – posing thought-provoking questions about the meaning of life and death.

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