The Murder at Havesham Manor

The Murder at Haversham Manor is the play performed by the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society in The Play That Goes Wrong.

Cast

 * Chris Bean as Inspector Carter
 * Robert Grove as Thomas Colleymoore
 * Sandra Wilkinson as Florence Colleymoore
 * Max Bennett as Cecil Colleymoore
 * Dennis Tyde as Perkins

Crew

 * Annie Twilloil (stagehand)
 * Trevor Watson (stagehand)

Act One
It is winter of 1922, on the evening of the engagement party between Charles Haversham and Florence Colleymoore. A few hours into the party, Thomas Colleymoore, Florence's brother, and Perkins, Charles' butler, head to the lounge to check on the groom to be, only to find him dead by unknown causes. After debating with Perkins whether the death was from murder or from suicide, Thomas calls Inspector Carter (whose house is closer to the manor than the nearest police station, and will arrive quicker due to the snowstorm raging outside), then orders Perkins to lock all the doors and send all of the manor's occupants (Florence along with Cecil Haversham, Charles' brother) to the lounge.

With everyone assembled (aside from Arthur, the manor's gardener, who left hours prior with Winston, his guard dog), Cecil brings up the possibility that Charles killed himself, paranoid that Florence doesn't love him (noting the last entry in his journal), just as Inspector Carter arrives. He orders Perkins and Thomas to bring the body to Charles' study for an initial inspection, leaving Cecil and Florence alone in the lounge.

As the inspector finds a note in Charles' coat pocket, Cecil assures Florence (who's worried that their affair will make them suspects for Charles' murder) that they can continue on as though nothing happened, eventually convincing her to marry him one day. She then asks him who he thinks killed Charles, to which he brings up the possibility of Thomas killing Charles so that Florence wouldn't leave him. No sooner does Cecil bring this up, however, that the inspector is ready to begin individual interviews with each of the manor's occupants.

During the interviews, Perkins doesn't show any real motivation for wanting to kill Charles, noting that his master treated him more as a friend and confidant than as a butler for his 8 years of service. The inspector agrees, adding that Charles was once brought in as a consultant on a fraud case the inspector was working on. He has somewhat more luck when interviewing Florence, then Cecil; having discovered their affair from the note he found on Charles, the inspector uses this (in addition to Cecil's resentment towards his brother for being the more spoiled of the two) as possible motivation for Florence and Cecil to kill Charles. While Florence in her interview reacts by running off hysterically, Cecil in his interview tells the Inspector what he told Florence about Thomas' possible motivation.

After sending Cecil off to bring Thomas in for questioning, the inspector finds Charles' ledger, containing a newly-written last will and testament. Just as he finds out who Charles' new benefactor is, Cecil brings in Thomas for his interview, but the inspector leaves to study the ledger's contents more thoroughly. Alone in the lounge, Cecil and Thomas discuss the latter's supposedly overjoyed feelings (despite his overprotective nature) towards Florence and Charles' marriage, when Thomas' accountant, Mr. Fitzroy, calls to inform his client that nine thousand pounds were stolen from his private savings. Attempting to resume their earlier conversation, Cecil confesses to Thomas his affair with Florence, starting a sword fight that ends with Thomas dragging Cecil into the library and shooting him, believing him to have killed Charles so he could marry Florence.

Everyone (bar Cecil) eventually re-assembles in the lounge, where the inspector determines that the gunshots were the result of Cecil losing control, convincing everyone that Cecil is the killer. This theory is almost instantly disproven when Cecil barges in and flops down dead, with 3 gunshot wounds in his back. The conversation then turns to who the real killer could be; since Perkins already locked all of the doors to the manor, and Arthur already left hours prior, the only possible suspects remaining are the four people currently in the manor: the inspector, Florence, Perkins, and Thomas.

Act Two
The inspector leaves to investigate the library, eventually calling Thomas to meet him in the study, leaving Perkins and Florence alone in the lounge. In the study, the inspector presents the gun Thomas used to kill Cecil, presuming it was out of jealousy when he found out about his affair with Florence, adding his remark: "You shot Cecil Haversham in cold blood, and you know that wasn't the plan". Setting that bit of conversation aside, the inspector shows Thomas Charles' newly-written will, bringing special attention to the beneficiary: Charles was planning on leaving his money, belongings, and estate to Perkins. With this in mind, the two head off to confront the butler.

Meanwhile, Perkins hears a loud knock on the lounge door. Thinking it could be the killer, he hides Florence out of harm's way in a secret passage behind Charles' bookshelf. He opens the lounge door, only to find Arthur, the mansion's gardener, and his guard dog, Winston, both of whom were prevented from leaving the grounds by the raging snowstorm. Having learned from Perkins that Charles and Cecil were murdered, Arthur brings up the strange events he witnessed that could be related (a mysterious figure stood outside the lounge window; upon further investigation, Arthur and Winston found that the latch on the window was forced open, and beneath it was a cyanide-stained handkerchief with the initials 'F.C.').

Believing the initials on the handkerchief to mean Florence Colleymoore, Perkins brings her back into the lounge just as Thomas and the inspector arrive. As Perkins explains how the cyanide-scented handkerchief incriminates Florence, Arthur disproves his theory: the figure he saw outside the window was that of a man. This allows Thomas and the inspector to bring their own theory to the group; that Perkins, as Charles' sole beneficiary, killed his master so that Haversham Manor would be his.

Perkins denies this claim, and decides to tell everyone who the real murderer is: Inspector Carter. The butler explains that while Charles and the inspector worked on their fraud case, Charles found out that the inspector was the one embezzling the police's money, so the inspector killed him to prevent this knowledge from going public. Before the inspector can kill Perkins for the same reason, however, an obviously-alive Charles bursts in, aiming a shotgun at the inspector.

Charles explains that after their meeting at the police station, it was clear the inspector thought Charles was on to him, so Charles had his guard up for the last few months. At this point, the group starts to put two and two together: Inspector Frederick Carter (whose name matches the initials on the handkerchief) hid in the manor grounds after leaving out a glass of poisoned sherry for Charles, explaining the mysterious figure Arthur saw and how quickly he arrived on the grounds after Thomas called for him, despite the snowstorm raging outside. Charles then goes to send a telegram to the police station, locking the door behind him and trapping everyone inside the lounge.

With nowhere to go, Thomas and the inspector explain what really happened: between the two of them, Carter could withdraw money from the police's sundry accounts with Thomas moving it quickly to his private savings, so that the withdrawals couldn't be easily traced. To prevent Charles from going public with this knowledge, the inspector left out a glass of poisoned sherry for Charles, then, mistakenly believing he was dead, tried to pin it on Cecil and Florence because of their affair. After Thomas shot Cecil, however, Carter tried to pin the murder on Perkins instead after he found Charles' will.

As Charles explains, however, the inspector wasn't planning on sharing the money: instead, he planned to take the money with him and flee the county, not counting on Thomas' accountant catching on and telephoning him as soon as he did. Betrayed, Thomas shoots and kills the inspector just as the police arrive at the manor. Charles then sends Perkins and Florence to bring the police in, as he says he wants to speak to Thomas privately. During the conversation, Charles allows Thomas to drink some sherry before going to the police, but before he can leave, Charles asks him a follow-up question: "The glass of poisoned sherry the inspector left out for me - what do you suppose I did with it?"