WHO KILLED THE FARMER a WHODUNIT written by Chris Martin
Friday 20th and Saturday 21st February 2026
Barrington Village Hall, Somerset
6,15 for 7.00pm curtain up
The year is 1954 and world-famous murder mystery writer Agnes Dalrimple has been invited to present a talk on her work at the tiny rural village of Barrington. To assist with her presentation, the local drama group, the Barrington Players, has been tasked with acting out Miss Dalrimple’s latest play, a comic whodunit named ‘Murder Most Fowl!’. This piece, set out on a remote Somerset farm centres around the brutal murder of local farmer Amos Ramsbottom. Amos is found stabbed, hung up by his feet inside a rickety barn which doubles as a chicken coop. But who would want to consign poor Amos to that great farmyard in the sky? Could it be…
Constance, his discontented wife?
Son Tom, of whom so much is expected yet who’s struggling to fill his father’s Wellingtons!?
Local butcher, Burt Lard, owner of the thriving business, ‘Lard’s Larder’? Or…
Lottie Belcher, Barrington’s bull-ish Lady Mayoress?
Veteran detective, Miss Mabel Nippitt, has her work cut out seeking out those chicken nuggets of truth in her bid to sort out the wheat from the chaff… as have the audience! It’s time to crack a few eggs…!!
Our last play in March 2025 was PREFERRED LIES a comic drama written by Arthur Charles
This was a comedy drama set in a golf club just outside the town of Great Snoring in the county of Somerset. The club has been male only for over a 100 years but now has been forced, by financial necessity, to admit its first two female members.
It is intended that the County Championships will shortly be held on the course, which apart from being a unique honour for the club, will be a great boost to its bank balance. But for this great event to take place the club must prove that it has female members. As a result two women have been allowed to join. This has been met with dismay by a number of the men leading to mass resignations. Little do they realise that other unforeseen events are soon to prove even more disruptive. . .
Our play in March 2024 was a comic murder mystery – AGATHA CRUSTY AND THE MURDER MYSTERY DINNER by Derek Webb
Geoffrey and Caroline Robertson are having a dinner party to celebrate ten successful years of Mighty Midget Vacuum Cleaners, the company he jointly owns with Tim McArthur, and to add spice to the evening they decide to make it a murder mystery dinner … but then life starts to imitate fiction …
Our play in 2023 was another Murder Mystery Play – WHO KILLED THE HEADMASTER? by Chirs Martin, which proved so popular that we have chosen another by this author for our play in 2026.
The audience witnessed a short play in three acts with a break between Acts 1 and 2 to discuss clues with their team over a delicious supper. At the end of Act 2 the teams submitted their ‘Whodunnit’ sheets with their final answers as to who they thought the murderers were. Then, after the final act, Act 3, the culprits were revealed.
