Murder At Midnight – Review – York Theatre Royal

By Karl Hornsey, October 2025

Murder at Midnight is the follow-up to Torben Betts’ successful Murder in the Dark production, which suggests that this is a strand that could run and run, sitting in the comical murder mystery genre that offers up so much material and possibility.

Also directed by Philip Franks for the Original Theatre company, this is a story that, like the stage on which it’s set, works on many levels. Throw in measures of farce, comedy, family woes, troubled back stories, multiple murders and tales of failed relationships, and there’s a lot going on – literally.

The premise behind Murder at Midnight is relatively simple – centring on a cockney gangster from whom the other characters revolve, be that his mother and girlfriend, or the criminals around him and the police trying to bring him to justice.

“Breakneck speed”

Jason Durr pitches his performance as Jonny the Cyclops just right, with just enough menace underlying his outwardly cheery persona, though it’s probably Susie Blake as his mother, Shirley, who steals the show. Blake was also part of the cast in Murder in the Dark, and another recent Original production as Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d, and her performance adds pathos to the story as well as her being given most of the play’s funniest lines.

As with any farce, and this really is a farcical tale in the best traditions, mixing hi-jinks with the gruesome tragedy of multiple murders, it’s played out at breakneck speed. The split-level set means that there are five areas in which the cast perform, in and around Jonny’s home on New Year’s Eve.

We know from the start that foul deeds have been committed, but then go back a few hours to build up the action until midnight arrives. With scenes going on across the stage it can sometimes be difficult to keep up, especially as the whole of the stage remains lit, meaning you need to stay focused as the action flits from one place to another or the characters quickly relocate themselves to another part of the house.

“Rollercoaster ride”

Durr and Blake are supported by Max Bowden and Katie McGlynn (former EastEnders and Corrie favourites respectively), with Bowden as an inept undercover policeman trying to find out what happened to Jonny’s wife, and McGlynn as the gangster’s moll, who may appear ‘thick as mince’ on the surface, but whose depth of character adds enormously to the storyline.

Getting farce right is a tough ask, especially when trying to tell the underlying, more serious stories of some of the characters involved, but Betts has got this just about right, and this will appeal to a broad audience. It’s simply a case of sitting back, enjoying a rollicking rollercoaster ride of madness and watching those back stories merge together to offer a serious snapshot into how people end up in the most difficult and out of control situations.

‘Murder At Midnight’ is at York Theatre Royal until 25th October
images: Pamela Raith

Karl Hornsey( Writer )

Karl’s love of writing was piqued at the age of eight, when he won a Blue Peter badge in an essay-writing competition. The location of said badge might be a mystery now, but the memory never fades. Hours spent writing about sport as a teenager, in pre-internet years when you had to make your entertainment, honed his skills, and Karl has worked in TV and radio listings at PA Media for 28 years, and the age of hybrid working means 50% of that can be at home listening to Classic FM and thinking about his next visit to his beloved Yorkshire Dales.
@KarlHornsey, hornskar

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