The cast is today announced for Busman’s Honeymoon, a whodunnit with thrills and humour by Dorothy L. Sayers & Muriel St. Clare Byrne, directed by Brian Blessed at the Mill at Sonning Theatre.
Acting legend Brian Blessed has directed several Agatha Christie mystery thrillers at The Mill at Sonning but this year he turns his hand to her equal in crime novelists – Dorothy L. Sayers. Upper crust sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey has married his lovely fiancee, Harriet Vane. But his honeymoon bliss is shattered when the dead body of the house’s previous owner turns up in the cellar…
The cast is James Sheldon as Lord Peter Wimsey, Kate Tydman as Harriet Vane, Joanna Brookes as Mrs Martha Ruddle and George Telfer as Mervyn Bunter with Christian Ballanytne, Helen Bang, Luke Barton, Chris Porter, Iain Stuart Robertson, Noel White and Duncan Wilkins.
Brian Blessed said: “Dorothy L. Sayers is one of the greatest writers of The Golden Age’ of British crime fiction. This is her masterpiece! A love story with detective interruptions. It is enriched with gorgeous characters that bring delightful humour to the story. And the murder method itself remains the most ingenious ever devised by any crime writer.”
Busman’s Honeymoon, based on Dorothy L. Sayers’ 11th and last featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, and her fourth and last to feature Harriet Vane, had its world premiere in 1936 in the West End at the Comedy Theatre, where it was a hit and ran for 413 performances. A 1940 film version, based as much on the play as on the novel, starred Robert Montgomery as Peter and Constance Cummings as Harriet. A 1947 BBC radio adaptation, featured Joan Hickson, later to be better known on TV for playing Agatha Christie’s amateur sleuth Miss Marple, as Miss Agnes Twitterton, the spinster niece of the murdered man.
Busman’s Honeymoon runs for 9 weeks at The Mill at Sonning from 28 April – 25 June.
