by Peter Griffith

 

The guests are all assembled for the party in Swigwell Castleand – then Lady Swigwell discovers that someone has stolen her diamond necklace! Lady Swigwell and her butler Speaking begin to search the guests – every audience member is a possibe suspect! And then a terrible cry is heard: Someone has murdered Lord Swigwell! Only one person can solve these terrible crimes: Smellsock Fomes, the greatest detective in the world. Mr. Fomes arrives by helicopter and sets to work – with the audience’s help – to unravel the mystery.

 

This criminal melodrama pokes fun at popular crime stories and at British social costums. Is the butler as guilty as he looks? And is Lady Swigwell as innocent as she seems? And what are Smellsock Fomes’s real motives in coming to Swigwell Castle?



 

Photos of 'The Great Detective'

 

 

Extract from the script 'The Great Detective'

Speeking: My lady, Mr. Fomes, I can tell you what the murderer looks like.
Fomes: But you are the murderer.
Speeking: No I’m not.
Fomes: Oh yes you are.
Lady S: Be quiet. Speeking, speak.
Speeking: My lady, the murderer is…(Speeking falls to the ground)
Fomes: He’s dead. Poison. This means…Speeking isn’t the murderer. The murderer must be…someone else!
Lady S: Yes. Who?
Fomes: We must find out what the murderer looks like. And only Speeking can tell us.
Lady S: But Speeking is dead.
Fomes: Yes. That is a problem.