Tip #1:
Avoid a
SURPRISE
Murder Mystery Party!
Yes...we know you are shocked when
you hear this! Some people get the notion that a murder mystery party
will be more fun if it is sprung on their guests as a SURPRISE! Well,
we hate to burst anyone's bubble, but after doing thousands of shows, we
learned that enthusiasm and cooperation will INCREASE when guests KNOW
IN ADVANCE about an upcoming mystery party.
(But, you can still surprise
your guest(s) of honor as you and your guests will enjoy seeing THEIR
reaction.)
Creative invitations
can be used effectively to make your event look fun, intriguing, and
mysterious. This way, your guests will be mentally prepared to
anticipate having fun.
They will spend days or weeks in advance
asking other people about it, and wondering if they are going to be the
one that gets killed, or if they are going to be set-up with a murder
rap, etc. And as curiosity and anticipation psyches them up for the
mystery party, they'll be more attentive to details of the play.
When the day of the
mystery dinner finally arrives, pre-informed guests know exactly what is
happening when they hear the screams:
"MURDER . . . someone's been killed!".
They'll be grinning ear-to-ear when they see the "stiff" laying nearby
on the floor.
Tip #2:
Don't Crowd Your Program Schedule
Try
not to "squeeze in" any programming segments prior to OR during the
Murder Mystery Play. This will distract your guests and it destroys the
mood of "suspended disbelief" that is crucial to setting the stage for a
murder mystery investigation. Consider your speeches, awards and other
business as the climax of the event, and wait until after the play is
completely over. Trust us on this point...we have seen Murder Plays lose
audience interest when the "spell is broken"! After a period of time is
spent on other activities, audiences are usually reluctant to re-focus
on the drama of the investigation.
Tip #3:
Choose Good
Actors
The quality of any play is
ONLY AS GOOD AS THE ACTORS!
In plays where you supply your own actors, choose people with
extroverted personalities and some degree of talent. And, by all means,
they need to have a good sense of humor.
Volunteer
actors are less effective if they: (1)
haven't rehearsed their script, (2) can't be understood, or (3) speak
too soft - even when a microphone is used. Foreigners or people with
accents are usually okay for speaking roles, unless their accent is so
thick that audience members cannot understand them when they speak
English.
(However this lends
itself to good-natured humor in certain roles!)
Tip #4:
Use the Right Table and
Chair Setup
When setting the room, make sure
everyone seated at the tables for dinner can see everyone else in the
room at the same time. If some tables are tucked around a corner or
worse yet - in an adjoining room - then those particular guests will
lose interest, get bored, and then begin conversing out loud. Once the
conversation level raises, the rest of the audience will be distracted
and have difficulty enjoying the show.
Also, use ROUND table
configurations
(or squares)
instead of the rectangle 6 or 8 foot banquet tables set up end-to-end.
Long table seating prevents guests from seeing the faces of most other
guests - except people directly next to them. Avoid "U" shaped table
settings as this arrangement may work for speeches, but does not
encourage spontaneous audience interaction during the play.
Tip #5:
Don't "Smush" Your Audience
Sometimes, restaurants
or banquet rooms tend to cram chairs and tables together too closely.
Murder Mystery dinners need a different approach than typical dinner
events. Round tables of 10 persons per table is too crowded for comfort.
We recommend 6 to 8 people per 72" round table. Guests need a little
space next to their dinner plate to jot down notes on 5" X 9" detective
reports. If they are jammed in too tight to the place setting on either
side of them, no one will have room to take notes during the production.
And, we have learned from experience that if guests cannot jot down a few
notes, they will lose interest in the play when they suddenly feel
overwhelmed by trying to remember more than three facts. If you
will be using smaller tables
(round or square);
a minimum of 4 persons per table is the least amount of guests you
should seat per table. ( 3 or less people per table
is too lonely and they won't feel like they are part of the fun.)
"The
One Yardstick Rule"
Allow a
comfortable space between
chair backs and tables when setting up the room. Stay at least 36" away
from walls with the backs of chairs. The room set-up should be
comfortable enough spacing so actors can walk between tables during the
show and not have to bump into the backs of guests' chairs - or have
accidents bumping into waiters carrying food trays. Don't forget to
allow a 5' X 5' space for setting up the PA control console
(microphone mixer and laptop),
plus a couple small 3' square areas in the corners of the room to set up
the PA speakers on tripod stands.
Besides the One Yardstick rule, it is okay to plan for 10% guests OVER
your actual head count - for the sake of space and table set-up.
Sometimes you may have more guests show up for the final mystery dinner
event. Allowing a 10% extra seating arrangement won't get you in
trouble. Also, the extra space may allow other guests to choose to sit
at another table so they will have more elbow room.
Tip #6:
Avoid Standing Receptions
An event where all your guests are standing and/or roaming the whole
duration of time never works for a successful murder mystery
party. For example: cocktail receptions use tall-top tables to give
guests a place to set glasses on along with appetizer plates. Tall-top
table events are used specifically to encourage guests to slowly roam
and engage in many conversations on an eye-to-eye level.
It is
awkward to tell them not to talk during the play.
The reason why this type of set-up
is so ineffective is that guests are all on a "peer level", looking
eye-to-eye with everyone else in the room. They cannot see actors who
are performing and speaking from various vantage points around the room.
Once your guests can't see the actors speaking, they lose
interest in the whole play and begin talking to their closest neighbor.
A room full of assorted conversations spread out everywhere is
the worst scenario for conducting an effective Murder Mystery Play.
If a standing reception is the only configuration you must use, then a
Murder Mystery play is probably not for you, and you should consider
using a different entertainment format. Talk to us first and maybe we
can offer a solution.
Tip #7:
Use "Chemistry"
for SMALL Party Planning
Small, private murder mysteries of
10 to 20 people is always a fun event among close friends, work
associates or relatives. But note: the key word is "CLOSE". In other
words, people that know each other well are more prone to being outgoing
and uninhibited when it comes to asking questions, or making funny
wisecracks
(which are always
welcome ...in fact
encouraged!).
Call this good "chemistry". The risk with small
gatherings of strangers is that these type of guests will be more
reserved. Case in point: funny moments in a script that usually generate
laughter from most audiences may go by without any kind of reaction when
strangers are too shy to laugh or contribute adlibs of their own. One
remedy is to use "lubrication". We refer to this as the Sodium Pentathol
effect (commonly referred to as truth serum). In other words,
serve cocktails and you'll instantly see how guests tend to adopt
a "party" attitude.
Depending on certain variables, there are
other clever ways to break the ice with these type of smaller parties.
Just call us and we will give you some good ideas on how to accomplish
this.
Tip #8:
Challenges When
Producing LARGE Parties
The first point is that with larger
audiences, there will be plenty of party personalities that will
contribute life and humor to the play. Extroverts don't care if they say
something in front of 12 people or 250 people, and that's a "beautiful
thing" in this business! Ask any comedian if they would rather have 20
or a 100 people watch their show and you know what their answer will be:
MORE PEOPLE! More people means a bigger laugh when something funny
happens.
One drawback with larger events of
200 and more people is that your guests tend to lose their connection with
the actors whom are seated several tables apart - or as much as 150 feet
away from the next nearest actor's table. In this large scale setting,
guests who see actors stand up and speak can barely see their faces and
expressions beyond 60 feet away.
For big events, our first
suggestion is to cut down the size of the show by dividing it into two
separate groups for two performances
(either one right after the
other, or one day after the next).
But, if you can ONLY do one show, then we can still add theatrical
tricks and techniques so a larger audience can still hear and see well.
INTIMACY is the key to a successful mystery play, otherwise we risk
losing the audience's attention. Call us to learn all the "secret" ways
we can pull this off.
