Rehearsal for Murder: A Full-Length Play

by D.D. Brooke

F. Scott Fitzgerald, the foremost chronicler of the 1920's, created this classic short story of young people, their charm and underlying sadness. Bernice, an insecure young woman of eighteen is visiting her popular cousin, Marjorie. At a series of Country Club dances, Bernice is, at first, a wallflower. Marjorie tries to help her gain popularity and succeeds beyond the wildest expectations of either girl. When Bernice wins Yale man Warren away from Marjorie, Marjorie exacts a terrible revenge. Bernice, learning from the experience, turns the tables in a surprise ending. Gracefully dramatized by D.D. Brooke, this play offers wisdom, laughter, charactars with whom your cast and audience will identify and even a tear or two.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction

82 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Yourfiendmrjones · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of three plays adapted from Levinson and Link (the creators of Columbo) tv-movie mysteries. This one involves a playwright staging a recreation of the night his wife supposedly committing suicide. As in the other adaptations, the writer smartly leaves the dialogue pretty much intact and the writing reads better for it. This will be the same review for the other two (Guilty Conscience and Murder By Natural Causes)as they are all decent adaptations with the onstage fireworks saved for the crisp L&L dialogue.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to be in a production of this play coming up in Sept., playing Ernie (a relatively small role).

I have mixed feelings about this play, with three major misgivings. Basically, the play is relatively fun. It's a murder mystery in which Alex, the fiance of dead leading lady Monica, uses his skills as a playwright to create scenarios ascribing motives to everyone in the production that had just semi-flopped the night Monica supposedly killed herself. The play is a Mousetrap type affair--and Hamlet is directly referenced in the show--meant to draw out the killer and expose that this was murder, rather than suicide. Everyone in the production, which occurs one year later, is apparently resistant to actually participating, but are convinced to continue through a series of persuasive techniques on Alex's part. Overall, it's relatively enjoyable.

I said I have three major misgivings...well, two major and one minor misgiving might be more accurate. The minor issue is that this is a play all about the theatre. Yes, I know playwrights do this all the time. We love writing about the theatre and seeing actors act about acting. And while I appreciate metatheatre as much as the next person, it can also feel a bit thin when a playwright is so overt about just setting a play in a theatre.

The more major issues are both structural. The first is a general structural issue in terms of storytelling broadly. Much of the first quarter of this play just involves Alex recounting the events of the original production leading up to Monica's death. While some of the action is actually performed, it's really retrospective. And it definitely has elements that are overtly expository, rather than letting us follow the events in real time. This is also a concern because we know that Alex is a playwright--he is a creator of fictions, and so there's an open question about how reliable his story is, whether we can trust his word. For a while, I actually figured he might be the murderer and this whole thing was an elaborate confession. But it turns out we can trust Alex's version of events from that night--at least until the other members of the production arrive.

The second structural problem I have with this play is specific to the structure of murder-mysteries. *Fair warning, this is going to give pretty clear hints about the murderer* Throughout the overwhelming majority of the play it is literally impossible to work out who the murderer is. The only time that we as an audience/readers even learn that this person knew Monica and had a motive to kill her is in the confession, which takes place in the last roughly five pages of the play. Before that, this character was--to the best of our knowledge--completely unfamiliar with Monica, apart from hearing about her widely reported death in the papers. The only hint, as far as I can tell, of who might be the killer is that when this person arrives Alex tells them to remain out of sight in the back of the theatre until they're needed. But even this comes with a perfectly logical explanation. And while Alex does say that in a murder-mystery, "You take the audience by the hand and lead them in the wrong direction. They trust you and you betray them," it's incredibly unsatisfying to have a murder-mystery in which you're so betrayed that working out the answer is virtually impossible. Audiences/readers should at least be able to plausibly guess correctly, rather than just giving us an entire explanation--complete with relationship to the victim, motive, and opportunity--basically in exposition right at the end of the play. Structurally, it's a piss off.
https://youtu.be/DWW4Iub4Nt0

[Lynnae Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing mystery similar to The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. The major characters had been in a Broadway production that failed and the leading actress is found dead by apparent suicide the next morning. One year after the event, Alex, the playwright and fiancé of victim, calls together all of the other players to identify one of them as the murderer *dun dun dahhh*.

PROS
- The final revelation is unexpected, making it a good mystery.
- The murder victim has a substantial part.
-5 roles have 100+ lines (one is 300+): 2M and 3F.
- The most of cast are on the stage speaking most of the show.

CONS
-No flexibility in gender casting (9M/6F).

[Ameetha Widdershins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description is entirely incorrect. This is a thriller/mystery where a playwright, whose fiancée died a year prior, holds the reading of his new play at the theatre where she had been on stage on the opening night of her theatre debut before her death later that night. The playwright reveals that his fiancée had been murdered. The actors, director and producer who have been invited to reading are forced into uncomfortable scenes that show their motives for the murder.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adapted from a teleplay by Levinson and Link, this is a first rate mystery play, especially for High Schools.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it so much I'm directing it next summer! Clever mystery with not one but two twists!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a brilliant concept! I've never seen this play staged before, but I'd certainly like to, and I'd love to play a role in it. The surprise ending is fantastic, and I certainly like the way the play was written. I won't bore readers with a synopsis, because those are easy enough to find elsewhere. I will, however, write why I gave it four stars rather than five. Though interesting, the play simply didn't wow me. That may change in the future, as I see or take part in productions of the play, but until then, four stars will suffice. :)

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in this play in high school and, as such, obviously read the script. I remember liking it at the time, but am refraining from entering an official rating. It's impossible to extract my opinion of the script from the fact that I was very excited to be in the play!

[Brooke]

FANTASTIC