By Torben Betts
Derby Theatre
5–13 September 2025

Writing a follow-up to a successful play can be more challenging than coming up with the original piece. When Torben Betts’ Murder in the Dark was touring the country, Original Theatre asked for a second offering which would be a “rollercoaster, full of action, visual humour and with a twist at the end”.

The result is Murder at Midnight in which Betts achieves his long-held ambition of satirising cockney gangster culture. He was aiming for something very dark and comic as well. The fact that it’s only partly successful is down to the two-dimensional aspects of some of the play’s characters.

Like its predecessor, Murder at Midnight is set on New Year’s Eve. Drugs baron Jonny the Cyclops returns home and is going to propose to his girlfriend. But she’s about to embark on an affair with an undercover cop disguised as a priest who’s trying to discover if Jonny murdered his first wife.

Throw in a love-starved sidekick, a dotty mother, a jittery carer and a nervous burglar and you have a recipe for a brilliant evening’s entertainment. Director Philip Franks describes it as “Feydeau as written by Tarantino”. But in my opinion it doesn’t quite come off.

The main successes of Murder at Midnight are Jonny and his mother Shirley, excellently played by Jason Durr and Susie Blake.

Durr presents Jonny as a likeable character even though he’s partial to violence and doesn’t fully appreciate family and friends. Durr dominates the stage and shows what a versatile actor he is.

Blake who “fabulously” portrayed Mrs Bateman in Murder in the Dark is just as impressive as Shirley. Again Betts has given her the play’s funniest lines and she delivers them crisply and with a naturalness she’s nurtured during a long career.

Her impeccable timing is matched by the rest of the cast in parts of the play that race along at breakneck speed until the blood-soaked finale.

But some of the characters lack depth although this is no fault of the actors.

The script doesn’t allow Max Bowden as Paul to show he is as incompetent as someone like Peter Gordon’s creation Inspector Pratt. Instead Paul comes over as a dolt who is prone to inaction.

Katie McGlynn as girlfriend Lisa, Callum Balmforth as the burglar with the clown mask Russell, Peter Moreton as Jonny’s right-hand man Trainwreck and Iryna Poplavska as edgy Romanian carer Cristina do their best to bring out their characters’ frailties without too much to work on.

Frank directs with a steady hand, presenting a slick production. It’s enhanced by designer Colin Falconer whose admirable triple-level set allows for action to take place simultaneously in different rooms of Jonny’s home.

Overall, though, I didn’t find Murder at Midnight as engaging or as funny as Murder in the Dark. In the programme Betts says he wanted to create something dangerous yet theatrically ludicrous, in the spirit of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s Inside No 9. I don’t find that amusing, so maybe Murder at Midnight isn’t my kind of humour. Others may find it to their liking.

* This review originally appeared on the British Theatre Guide website