TALENTED Teesdale youth theatre group, the Turrets, are serving up an original whodunnit for two nights this week, while audiences feast on a three-course meal.
The Turrets’ senior group will perform ‘Twas the Knife Before Christmas, on Friday and Saturday, December 8 and 9, at 7.30pm at The Witham.
Turrets leader and playwright Christina Castling said: “Ever since I started in January, the seniors have been keen to do a melodramatic, larger than life, murder-mystery.”
Instead of purchasing a script the theatre group, which meets at the Barnard Castle arts venue every Wednesday during term time, opted to create their own crime drama, setting it in a sleepy Teesdale town.
The cast of characters, which includes Steve Sirloin the butcher, Lord and Lady Lartington Von Lyon and Mayor Mulberrybush, gives an indication the audience are in for a fun time trying to work out whether Constable Clouseau and his sidekick Sergeant Sidowitz will solve the mystery before coffee and mints are served.
Ms Castling added: “It is utterly ridiculous, and wonderful in equal measure. It promises to be good fun, very entertaining with delicious food, lots of laughter, plenty of hearty festive cheer and a couple of murders thrown in for good measure.”
Tickets for ‘Twas the Knife Before Christmas cost £20 per person or £114 for a table of six and includes a sumptuous three-course meal.
There will be a starter of winter vegetable soup followed by Christmas turkey and vegetable pie with mince pie and cream for desserts followed by coffee and mints donated by Chocolate Fayre.
She said: “It has been fantastic to watch the characters because they [Turret members] have to make sense of the motives for murder.”
All proceeds from the event, which will also feature a prize raffle and tombola, will go towards supporting the Turrets Youth Theatre. To book contact The Witham box office by telephoning 01833 631107 or go to thewitham.org.uk. There is an age limit of 12.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
