Hello friends,

Recently, I got the opportunity to act in a murder mystery play, and it was a wonderful experience overall. Since the play was performed for a private audience, we didn’t have the opportunity to receive reviews from theatre critics. So, I thought I would take the liberty of reviewing the play myself—both as an actor who was part of the production and as someone who genuinely enjoyed being a part of this experience.

Here’s my take on the play, the writing, the performances, and the wonderful people who brought it all together.

The Murder at Q

Directed by Vaishali Bisht and co-written by Vaishali Bisht and Faraz Khan, this murder mystery is an interesting exercise in keeping a script simple while making its characters layered. The writing is straightforward on the surface, yet the characters have considerable depth.

Their personalities, relationships, and hidden sides emerge thread by thread, page by page and scene by scene. What makes them work is that, despite their complexity, there is something familiar and relatable about them. You can recognize pieces of everyday life, human behavior, and relationships in each of them.

The format of the play

The format of the play itself is unusual. Four scenes happen simultaneously in a club, in four acoustically separated spaces. The audience is divided into groups, with each group watching one scene before moving on to the next. Each scene is performed four times, with a short five-to-six-minute interval between performances. The actors have to recreate the same scene, with the same props and dialogues, for four different audiences.

Meanwhile, the audience gets to discuss the clues, analyse the characters, and decide who they think the murderer is. All of this eventually comes together in the fifth and final scene, where the detective brings the characters and the audience together to solve the mystery.

Noor

One of the most entertaining scenes revolves around a food influencer Noor who is in the same space where the murder takes place, busy making her own reel. The character is much more layered than she initially appears. Her attempt to connect with the outside world while carefully revealing very little about herself is a clever piece of writing.

Deepti Gehrotra does a wonderful job with the character. Her hilarious lines, accent, tonality, and comic timing make her particularly memorable. I personally loved watching her perform. She manages to make the character funny and engaging while retaining the mystery beneath the surface.

Aura and Subramanyam

The scene between Aura, an NRI, and Subramanyam, a businessman and builder, unfolds in a lounge where the two begin talking about their lives and their problems. What starts as a seemingly ordinary conversation slowly reveals the true nature of both characters. Layer by layer, their relationship changes, and this scene becomes instrumental to the larger story.

Anuj Gurwara, a seasoned performer plays Subramanyam bringing a convincing presence to the businessman, while Shayontoni Rhea Ghosh, as Aura, complements him beautifully. They both create a compelling web of emotions, lies, and human understanding, beautifully complementing each other’s acting strengths.

Their chemistry and understated tension make this one of the important pieces of the larger puzzle. I won’t reveal more—some things are best discovered while watching the play.

Feu and Payal

The relationship between Fue and Payal is truly unique—a beautiful blend of companionship, friendship, mentorship, and simply being there for each other. Their quiet understanding and the way they found strength in one another came through beautifully by the end.

After overcoming the initial challenges and gradually understanding the nuances of their characters and the writing, Ganesh Nallari and Smriti Thapa found the rhythm and chemistry that brought this friendship to life.

What emerged was a natural, believable bond that added real warmth and humor to their scenes. As someone who was part of this journey, I found it particularly rewarding to see how beautifully the relationship evolved.

The Detective

The detective, played by Faraz Khan, has a scene of his own, where he begins investigating the mystery and, importantly, interacts directly with the audience.

His role becomes even more significant in Scene Five, when he brings everyone together—the characters as well as the audience—and turns all those observations, clues, and suspicions into one final investigation.

He is essentially the thread that ties the different stories together and gives the audience a chance to put their theories to the test.

The other actors in the production, Rohit and Nehal, also contributed to bringing the various characters and scenes together. Nehal was also part of the production team, along with Akash and Dhreeti Vithlani. Their work behind the scenes played an important role in keeping the rehearsals and performances running smoothly.

The production team handled the many moving parts with efficiency and care, while Smriti Thapa also looked after the actors’ well-being and food management throughout the production.

The Director’s Cap

At the helm is Vaishali Bisht, who also produced the play and is herself a serious and committed performer. Perhaps that is why her standards are so high. She is a strict, logical, and straightforward director who expects people to deliver what they have committed to. There is certainly no hanky-panky during rehearsals!

But once the director’s cap comes off, she is warm, fun, and great company.

I have known Vaishali for almost 30 years—as a friend, co-actor, and director—and I have learnt a great deal from her. What I particularly admire is how much she invests in her actors. If you genuinely want to learn and improve, she will sit with you, guide you, and help you find your ground. She does this generously, and perhaps that investment is exactly why her expectations are so high. Ultimately, it shows in the work.

Repeating the Mystery

For the actors, performing the same scene four times is not as easy as it sounds. The challenge is to maintain the character, energy, timing, and emotional beats while performing for a completely different audience each time. Having rehearsed for a month, the cast had the opportunity to really settle into their characters and understand the nuances of their relationships.

As an actor in the production, I am perhaps too close to it to judge every scene objectively. Every performance is also slightly different because theatre is live. But what I can appreciate is the amount of work that went into creating a format where the audience is not merely watching a play—they are actively participating in it.

And that, ultimately, is what makes this whodunit different. You don’t simply sit and wait for the murderer to be revealed. You observe, discuss, speculate, change your mind, defend your suspect, and try to put the pieces together.

By the time Scene Five begins, everyone has a theory.

The only question is—did you get it right?

What the Audience Said

Of course, a play is ultimately meant for its audience. Since Murder at Q was performed for a private audience, I thought it would be much more meaningful to include a couple of reactions from people who experienced the play purely as audience members.

Karan Thapa

«“The whole experience was very unique to me, and I’m really glad I went for it!

What stood out for me was the ease of movement from one stage to the other, which made the whole experience feel so seamless.

All the actors did a tremendous job! It must have been quite a task to do the repeat performances for the different groups, but the energy and engagement they brought each time was brilliant. The energy between the teams as we tried to find the killer was definitely electric!

It was also a lot of fun taking part in the group debate and being part of the whole experience.

Would definitely recommend this to others!”»

Megana Surapaneni

«“I recently went to watch Murder at Q. I went with zero expectations and no idea of how the play was going to pan out, but little did I know what a night I was in for!

I really enjoyed the whole experience because it was so different from just watching a regular play. The play was divided into four parts, and for each act, we actually had to pay attention to all the little details and discuss who we thought the murderer could be—their motive, the weapon, the clues, and even their redeeming quality. Each act changed our perspective on what we thought and who we thought the killer could be.

What stood out for me was how interactive and engaging it was. You couldn’t just sit back and watch. You had to constantly observe, think, discuss, and connect the dots. Even solving the crossword based on the acts to unlock more clues made it that much more fun and kept everyone involved throughout. We all had different theories, and it was interesting to see how different people approach different situations.

It was a completely new experience for me, and I loved how much we all got into trying to solve the murder together. The actors were exceptional and really brought the whole story to life.

Overall, I had a blast! It was engaging, clever, interactive, and honestly just a lot of fun! Would definitely do more plays like this!”»

A Final Word

For me, Murder at Q was more than just another play. It was a completely different experience of theatre—one where the actors, the production team, and the audience all became part of the same story.

The biggest compliment, perhaps, is that the conversations did not end when the scenes ended. The audience continued debating, comparing clues, defending their suspects, and trying to work out the truth.

And isn’t that what a good whodunit is supposed to do?

Keep you guessing until the very end.

Until next time…;)

Hope you enjoyed reading this. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Your words matter.