Review: THE BURNING MAN at Oyster Mill Playhouse

A mansion, cut off by weather from the outside world. Deaths occur. It can only be one of the occupants. Thank God the police arrived before the place became isolated. If that sounds familiar, it could be because it's Agatha Christie's THE MOUSETRAP. Set it in New England, make the problem rain and flooding instead of snow, douse someone with gasoline, and it's Tim Kelly's THE BURNING MAN.

While you might think "Burning Man" and come up with "festival in Nevada," in this case it's the story of a deceased rich Canadian and his formerly-a-baroness wife who feels let down by money without an aristocratic title (she longs to go back to her former husband's name and her title now that her second husband is no more). His son by his first marriage was torched to death, it seems, by her son from her first marriage, who is now locked up in an asylum. So now that the family is together for the will to be read, how is it that a second man's been torched in the estate's garden?

Currently on stage at Oyster Mill Playhouse, the setting is the study of a house almost never occupied by the late Henri Aubert, still occupied by his estranged wife, played by Candilee Cain. Mrs. Aubert is the consummate snobbish bitch - there is no other word for it - and Cain plays her with ice, steel, and an edge of defiance. She doesn't approve of you and really doesn't care what you think, because her superiority means that your opinions and feelings don't matter. Well, were you ever a baroness? She didn't think so.

Visiting are Aubert's niece Elizabeth (Alyssa Burns) and his cousin Dolly, a television dancer (Lorel Holt). They were both present for the first death but don't recall things quite the same way, while Mrs. Aubert would prefer not to recall anything at all. The will's being read by attorney Mr. Meadows (Mike Stubb), and to Mrs. Aubert's great consternation, she's to receive either the bulk of the estate or nothing, depending on the existence of a rumored heir. But is he alive? Will Mrs. Aubert stay alive to inherit anything, if he isn't? Because people seem to be dropping like flies, and the only law around is private investigator Charlie Underwood (Joe M. Mussa), assisted by a rather peculiar and very doubtful police officer. Peter Tanner (Charlie Dewalt). Floating through this is the butler that seems not to have done it, Clements (Charles Smith). But is he who he says he is? Is Underwood? Is Tanner?

Fortunately, playwright Kelly seems to be aware enough of his work's similarities to THE MOUSETRAP to have avoided similar death situations or a nearly identical solution, though sometimes it feels as if he's working a little too hard to be different. Kevin Durkin does yeoman's work directing the piece at Oyster Mill, though there are times everything feels just a bit strained. It's almost too intense at some moments, a bit slower than might be expected in others. There are a few awkward exits, and some poorly timed set changes, that detract from the overall effect of the show as well.

Still, for lovers of mysteries with more deaths and less comedy, something a bit more spicy than the typical Agatha Christie drawing room murder, there are features of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, with a higher murder rate and lower humor rate than Christie's usual fare, here. The character interactions are somewhat unusual, and the family dynamics of the Aubert clan are distinctly different than the typical one-set drawing room mystery. There's no love lost between any two characters for most of the show, few people sticking up for each other as not being likely suspects. And there's certainly plenty of red herring to go around, as well as a McGuffin or two (beware of that private eye's letter from Aubert! And what about that very peculiar will?). But it's not quite as deftly written as a Christie murder plot, nor does it have the suspense levels of GASLIGHT or WAIT UNTIL DARK.

Cain turns in the performance of the show as the thoroughly awful Mrs. Aubert, though Dewalt is a close second as the bumbling officer, Tanner, who can't possibly really be as dimwitted as he looks, can he?

It's a world of almost nobody being who they seem to be, and motivations by the busload. The only thing you can expect is that you'll be surprised by some of the revelations near the end. A few things are more obvious to the audience than to the involved parties, as always in a mystery, but there are a few unexpected and unusual twists to be found. While it's not the perfect murder mystery, it's different enough in its twists to be worth seeing, and it's not as commonly produced as many of the other drawing room mysteries around.

At Oyster Mill through June 12. Visit www.oystermill.com.

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