Upper Hutt’s amateur theatre company, Heretaunga Players, is proud to present the 1-act comedy ‘Murder on a Budget’ by David Tristram as their mid-winter production of 2025.

The show is a whodunit spoof that’s bound to have audiences leaving the theatre with sore cheeks from laughing. Described as a farce-mystery-thriller-comedy(!), the 1-act play introduces multiple odd-ball characters that the ‘legendary’ Inspector Drake and his trusty sidekick Sergeant Plod encounter when investigating a headless corpse at the manor house.

But putting on a 1920’s period-correct murder mystery is an expensive undertaking for a theatre company. What happens when your theatre can’t afford to build an elaborate set and hire special effects experts and professional actors? Simple – you do it on a budget!

Director Andrew Tait says the play is the funniest show he’s ever been part of. “I first read the script while on the Wellington to Upper Hutt commuter train, and I couldn’t stop laughing. The other passengers must have thought I was nuts! I absolutely love all the characters, each with their peculiar eccentricities, and the whole ‘on a budget’ theme means we can leave a lot to the imagination!”

“The audience will particularly love the props lady who must hurriedly bring on and remove key props to set the stage (like the fake pot plant representing ‘the forest’) and deliver critical items that the actors have forgotten to bring on themselves. Of course, she gets increasingly frustrated at all of this and so naturally she’s the scene-stealing star of the show!”

Show dates are 24 July to 2 August, and tickets are now available from Whirinaki Whare Taonga (call 5272168), or via iTicket.co.nz. https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2025/jul/murder-on-a-budget

A “thank you” to Georgina from Heretaunga Players for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

21/07/25