Cracking The Clues

April 22, 2024

Murder He Wrote: Tin Building Theatre spring show rehearsals in full swing; performances of murder-mystery "The Clock Struck One" May 4, 5, 10 & 11

CLIFTON -- The title “The Clock Struck One” of Craig Sodaro’s play instantly brings the children’s nursery rhyme to mind of the mouse running down the clock as it strikes the hour. But the clock in the Hickory Dickory Dock Inn seems to have a mind of its own, striking hours at random. Or is it random? Some might say spirits guide its untimely chiming.

Rehearsals are underway for the Tin Building Theatre’s 2024 four spring performances offer a murder mystery with some meaty character roles and a plot with twists and turns around every corner. As the play progresses the audience gets to know the characters and their personal quirks, the intrigue builds as clues appear and deception left and right becomes apparent. Who in the audience succeeds in solving the mystery themselves, before the surprising denouement on stage?

The performances are dinner theatres on Saturday, May 4 and May 11 starting at 6:30 p.m.; a Sunday matinee performance May 5, starting at 2 p.m. and a regular performance on Friday May 10 starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to this highly entertaining play with some of TBT’s veteran actors and some talented newcomers to the stage are on sale now through the Bosque Arts Center website, or by calling 254-675-3724.

In the two-act play, there is some romance, some sibling rivalry, suspicious goings on, some supernatural interference, something for everyone. It tells a story of a reunion weekend for estranged and endlessly bickering sisters Connie Girard and Regan Tasker that takes a mysterious turn when they find the host of Hickory Dickory Inn murdered. Stuck in an early fall blizzard, in a blackout, without phones, the motley crew residing at the Inn during the murder try to solve the case; all have histories to hide and take actions that raise suspicions.

Could it be the victim’s surprisingly unsentimental sister, Essie? Or maybe it’s Clark or Keeky Curtis, a pair of lovebirds who have to be hiding something under that sticky-sweet façade. What’s the story behind debonair Englishman Edgar Hill, who’s a real fish out of water? And isn’t it curious that the best-selling author of horror stories, Nigel Grimm, in reality is afraid of everything? Does Sarah Dane, a lonely young woman who has an edge of anger, hold a strong enough passion, perhaps, to kill?

The sisters can’t even overlook each other as suspects; after all, it’s been six years since they’ve seen each other. Perhaps the victim himself will point a ghostly finger at the real killer when occult-minded Regan holds a séance with everyone present.

The TBT cast features Connie Terry as Keeky, Debbie Rowland as Connie, Joanne Grelle as Regan, Jaycie Thornton as Sarah, Jan Slade as Essie, Bill Sibley as Edgar, Michael Richardson as Nigel and Kevin King as Clark. The play is directed by Don Boysen and Linda Lowrance with Stage Manager Troy Fisler assisted by Tomas Trujillo and Skye Baker.