Prescription For Murder by the Phoenix Players Arts Centre, Swindon

THE Phoenix Players can be relied on to change the genres of the plays they produce. This time it was Prescription For Murder by Norman Robbins - a murder mystery with a twist I certainly wasn’t expecting, or indeed had worked out. I, like many others in the audience, got it wrong.

As always the set was excellent and the cast were up to the task.

All seven players were well cast and believable in their roles. Margaret Price was excellent as Julia Moore, as were Emma Hartup and Clare Brown in their mammoth roles.

Mark Harris’s characterisation of Allan Haigh had me tittering at times as he portrayed the hen-pecked husband of Mary Haigh, well played by Elly Beint. Colin Wilkins was every inch the country doctor and Raman Aggarwal, as Eric Dawson, grew in confidence as the play reached its climax.

If I’m honest this wasn’t my favourite Phoenix offering, but that had more to do with my likes and dislikes of certain genres than the cast or script.

I enjoyed the sheer effort by the players and the work by director Sally Lovejoy that went into making another entertaining evening.

ROS HOLLANDS