Like all good amateur theatre, this one-off show by Girton Amateur Dramatics Society (GADS), a spoof of Agatha Christie's murder mysteries, was at its best when the actors threw caution to the wind and hurled themselves headlong into their roles. Jack Pulman-Slater as the bumbling, stumbling butler was outstanding in this regard: every onstage moment with him was a joy to watch.

Others in the cast shone too: Charlie Gatehouse and Cat Walker in particular, as Inspector Pratt and Miss Maple respectively, and Ville Syrjanen as Constable Thompkins did a spot-on impression of Michael Gove. But even the funniest performances could not disguise tedious dialogue. As a fan of both Agatha Christie and spoofs of murder mysteries, such as Jonathan Coe's novel What a Carve Up!, I really wanted to like Peter Gordon's script, but decent jokes were few and far between, and all too often it slipped into the cringeworthy, safe humour of a bad TV sitcom, that never quite reached the level of ‘so-cheesey-it's-good’.

The script also did the cast a disservice in weighing them down with dialogue-heavy drawing room scenes that really needed some editing (a faster pace would have helped too). Lines were fluffed frequently, and while no-one comes to an am-dram show expecting perfection, I couldn't help but feel that the cast would have benefited from less faithfulness to the script and more funny ideas of their own invention. There were some good slapstick moments in this show, and it was a shame that there were not more of these, rather than jokes about repeatedly calling your wife "old boy".

The leather-bound volumes and dusty curtains of Girton's Stanley Library were an ideal fit for the thirties setting, the warmly-lit space evocative of the fine rooms of country houses found in classic murder mysteries. This was very much a night in for Girton students, and the intimate proximity of actors and audience worked well with the community vibe.

All in all, GADS should be pleased with themselves for putting on a fun show – but next time they should consider taking a few more risks if they want to make something truly memorable.

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