...LATEST NEWS

Canonbie Productions returns to Drayton Arms Theatre for the WORLD PREMIERE of their third comedy - THIS IS NOT A MURDER MYSTERY

A tense and exciting new comedy-thriller set in a (regional) theatre dressing room on the opening night of a brand-new murder mystery.

Written by Peter Rae Directed by Helen Bang

Award-Winning Director (of tampon commercials) Sebastian Fawn attempts in vain to wrangle his cast - a trio of indomitable women over 50; former child star Sheila-Jayne Punnock; one-time cult-TV icon Angelica Finchley-Power & life-coach/actress Elizabeth Treasure; and the token handsome young male ingénue – James Maguffin - before a shocking discovery is made... Will Reality Imitate Art?… (as in, will there be a murder?)...

Cast: Helen Bang - Rosalind Blessed - Jonny Davidson - James Mackay - Laura Morgan - Peter Rae

don't take the pith!

DRAYTON ARMS THEATRE - 21st MAY - 1st JUNE 2024

"DON'T TAKE THE PITH!" A NEW FARCE. & JEWEL HEIST. & GHOST STORY (sort of...)

Following the success of "An Absolute Farce of a Murder Mystery" at Drayton Arms last year (Finalist BEST COMEDY London Pub Theatre Awards) we are RETURNING to the Drayton with another HARDCASTLE & BLOOM Mystery-Farce Romp.

Set on (very much not) Borneo DON'T TAKE THE PITH is set in the 1920s and is an homage to Agatha Christie as well as being also inspired by the works of Somerset Maugham. It is a fast-paced, frenetic, hilarious and near-the-knuckle comedy - a satirical swipe at post-colonialism, patriarchy and women's rights.

CAST: HELEN BANG and PETER RAE are returning in their roles as noted psychic LADY SUSAN BLOOM and self-proclaimed wit, rake & raconteur LORD SEBASTIAN HARDCASTLE respectively. They are joined by RICHARD RYCROFT (Game of Thrones/The Crown); BILLIE VEE; DAVID FURLONG; LAURA MORGAN; ABI DAWN & OLA TENIOLA.

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.....Canonbie PRODUCTIONS

Canonbie Productions is Wife & Husband team HELEN BANG & PETER RAE.

Initially created to keep ourselves creatively engaged, we have built up a regular and loyal ensemble of actors and technical creatives. Also sometimes like proper famous people come and play with us!

WEB SERIES

We began by creating a pair of web series' - available on YouTube: THE SELF-TAPERS - a sardonic and somewhat surreal comedic look at the quotidian realities of "The Business"; and GENTRIFICATION: a mystery-thriller shot partly in Greek.

These feature our growing acting ensemble as well as cameos from Katy Manning, Sophie Aldred, Nicola Bryant, and Rob Duncan.

TV PILOT

We have also shot a 30-min TV comedy pilot, THE CULT - a mockumentary following a very British cult, featuring Louise Jameson, Olivia Poulet, Richard Rycroft, Stephen Billington and Lisa Bowerman.

PODCAST

They then created a (lockdown-inspired) narrative comedy-crime podcast, MARGATE MURDER MYSTERY: which topped the Apple Podcast Comedy-Crime charts, and features many of the guest stars mentioned above as well as Simon Jones, Michael Fenton Stevens, Tim Bentinck, Lizzie Roper, and Brian Blessed.

FEATURE FILM

They recently completed shooting and editing their first feature film - QUIXOTIC: A sardonic-bittersweet rom-com about depression featuring a man who can only feel free in his imagination, a kidnapped dog and an age-appropriate pairing; with guest performances from Sandra Dickinson, Cleo Sylvestre, Hattie Hayridge and a cameo from Dave Cousins of 60's/70's folk-rock legends The Strawbs!

STAGEPLAY

FEBRUARY 2023 we staged our debut THEATRE PRODUCTION!

AN ABSOLUTE FARCE OF A MURDER MYSTERY is a Farce / Murder-Mystery / Ghost Tale. We performed for two weeks at the Drayton Arms in South Kensington and as well as receiving overwhelming 4* & 5* reviews - we were finalists for BEST COMEDY at the London Pub Theatre Awards!

MAY 2024 - we followed up with DON'T TKE THE PITH! A colonial farce-jewel heist-ghost mystery

A new Farce / Murder-Mystery / Ghost Tale Romp

***NOMINATED for a London Pub Theatres - STANDING OVATION AWARD***

FINALIST - BEST COMEDY 2023

An Absolute Farce of a Murder Mystery, 5 Stars – Theatre Reviews *****

“The play is so funny! A world premiere and I laughed from start to finish. That really isn’t like me at all! Plays are not usually my thing, I prefer musicals, dance and physical theatre but this one is so well written and so funny that it is a fabulous night out!"

AN ABSOLUTE FARCE OF A MURDER MYSTERY, The Drayton Arms Theatre (broadwayworld.com) ****

"A new play takes on the notoriously tricky genre of light comedy with conspicuous success... the charm of Peter Rae's script, the pace of Helen Bang's direction and the willingness of the cast to go just far enough over the top, soon won me over…

Light comedy is very tricky to do and it's done well here - and it warrants the very decent laugh count it elicits in these grim times."

LondonTheatre1.com ****

"By any definition, An Absolute Farce of a Murder Mystery is a very welcome addition to the genre and writer Peter Rae has produced a classic of the style."

ReviewsGate 4****

"This mix of Agatha Christie murder tales, goings on an old dark house and Blithe Spirit provides lots of laughs and over the top performances to marvel at. It is a barrel of laughs!"

Love London Love Culture ****

"Fans of Agatha Christie and murder mysteries will need to get themselves down to the Drayton Arms Theatre for this lively and hilarious play.

…the script gently (and sometimes naughtily) pokes fun of all those period drama style murder mysteries in delightful ways, as well as featuring all the typical stereotypical characters audiences have long come to expect. It has been tightly written and is immensely enjoyable from start to finish as it doesn’t take itself seriously and whisks the audience along on the journey of chaos effectively."

.........AN ABSOLUTE FARCE OF A MURDER MYSTERY

...REVIEWS

Margate Murder Mystery

Tabitha and Tilly are Shoreditch ex-pats who have moved to Margate to set up a boutique AirB&B. This sort of thing doesn't actually exist but they won't let that stand in their way.

Unfortunately they have the odd teething problem; the drains, finding their feet in a new town, accidentally murdering their first guest...

A 6-part Comedy-Crime Podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where you get 'em!