Loveday Brooke is back in “The Mystery of the Black Bag.” The Literary Adventure Society invites audiences to “match wits with Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective, by examining clues alongside the characters in the story.” The medium for “Black Bag” is part audio drama, part game box filled with clues for one to six players.
…superb adaptation by Kerry McGee, who has taken liberties with the 1893 story, while keeping its original spirit.
British mystery abounds in an authentic whodunnit from the Victorian Era. Lady Cathrow’s jewelry is stolen from her country English manner house of Craigen Court during the festivities of a Christmas party. The assortment of suspects includes the French maid Stephanie, her suitor, clergymen, and— quoting from the original story penned by Catherine Louisa Pirkis, “people of undaunted respectability in the neighbourhood,” i.e., the country gentry. Our Miss Brooke of the Lynch Court Detective Co. is sent under the assumed identity as the niece of Mrs. Williams, the housekeeper. Her task is to see if she can solve the case and clear the name of Stephanie who disappears and comes under increasing suspicion as the guilty party. Loveday is helped by her literary knowledge, learning the “cabman’s vernacular” of cabbie Burt, and a cynicism about human nature born of experience which leads to great insight.
This latest episode of Loveday Brooke audio adventures (first begun by the Capitol Hill-based theatre company We Happy Few during the Coronavirus pandemic) is of particular interest, for it offers some of the backstory of the protagonist. Loveday says about herself: “ I was drawn to detective work because I possess a natural skepticism of people and their motives.” She explains what “set her on her path to lady detective,” as another character in the story phrases it. Her father had been a bank manager and a certain amount of money ended up missing and he was deemed responsible. The true culprit was someone they had trusted deeply. He was a supposedly good, kind-hearted man, one who had brought the child Loveday sweets. This betrayal set her on the path of righting wrongs and seeing beyond appearances. The inclusion of this backstory in this installment is also enormously helpful for appreciating other Loveday Brooke audio dramas offered by the producer.
“The Mystery of the Black Bag” contains many interesting cultural and literary references, such as the Twelfth Night season, public theatre and poetry readings of Victorian times, and especially Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” and its famous speech by Portia: “The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven…”
The cast is excellent throughout, especially Debora Crabbe reprising the role of Loveday Brooke, her voice alternating at appropriate moments between humor, compassion, and an unwavering sense of justice. Josh Adams is a bright presence as the cabbie, Burt, with his enthusiastic preference for cabman’s slang over “the Queen’s English.” Paige O’Malley is in top form as Mrs. Williams, at times, the strict housekeeper and, at others, a hapless figure bemused by the behavior of Loveday as well as Stephanie’s “French ways.” Andrew Quilpa is in fine form as Inspector Bates, first disparaging the “lady detective” and then being forced to acknowledge her superior detective skills. We also enjoyed the performances of Robert Pike as Mr. Dyer, Loveday’s employer, and Eric Messner as Rector Thomas.
A remarkable aspect of the production is the superb adaptation by Kerry McGee who has taken liberties with the 1893 story while keeping its original spirit. In so doing, she has rendered this tale an effective audio drama and updating it for today’s audiences who are far removed from the mores of the Victorian society.
The “game” aspect of the “Mystery of the Black Bag” includes a box of clues which evoke the era of the story, including a faux Victorian newspaper, “The London Lady’s Pictorial,” with articles about the mystery such as “Black Bag Points to Tragedy Most Verbose;” a Christmas party guest list of the suspects; a glossary of the “cabman’s vernacular;” a “reciter’s treasury” of nineteenth-century poetry; and even love letters to Stephanie from a male admirer! The characters in the production make references to the “evidence packets” at crucial moments in the story, telling the reader when to open the next visual clue. This tactile aspect of the production is sure to make for a memorable party game!
To order “The Mystery of the Black Bag” and to at last learn the role of the black bag in the story, please visit here.
