On November 1, 2024, mystery was in the air. Southwestern students flocked to the patio of the Smith Library Center to attend the 4th annual Murder Mystery event hosted by Mask and Wig, SU’s student-run theatre club. Murder Mystery is an interactive theatre event in which the audience splits into groups to solve a murder perpetrated by one of the characters present. A member of Mask and Wig plays each character and can be interacted with to learn about the characters.
This year’s mystery was “Murder at the Ren Faire,” a fantastical tale set in the fictional kingdom of Snickerstan, created, written, and directed by the students of Mask and Wig. The goal of “Murder at the Ren Faire” is for the audience to unravel the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of the Queen. The show’s format is relatively simple; once the audience settled into their seats, the head of Mask and Wig (Marley Sensefender ‘25) welcomed everyone to the event before the actors took to the stage. The show’s first act involved each of the actors going in front of the crowd to introduce themselves in character, giving the audience a small glimpse into the background and personality of each to give them a foundation to base their questions on.
From left to right, the cast and characters are as follows:
- Jackson Feuerbacher ‘27 as Fineas Fitzherbert the Elf
- Rosa Roedner ‘28 as Morcanan the Wizard
- Mason Mitchell ‘27 as Tyche d’Apone the Alchemist
- Lakota Wall ‘25 as Rhys the Bard
- Riley Wolfe ‘25 as Sir Brutus Bandageworth the Knight
- Cole Thomson ‘25 as Stinkin’ Pete the Pirate
After introductions, the characters dispersed around the patio so the audience could approach them for questioning. The interrogation is the heart of what makes Murder Mystery such an enjoyable event. The actors do a marvelous job of remaining in character, even before the show started.
It is up to the audience to unravel these unique personalities in order to determine their motives, alibis, and any other information that might narrow down a list of suspects. Each character has defined motives and information they know regarding the death of the Queen, but they may not be immediately willing to share these facts unless confronted or caught in a lie, a delightful air of mystery. Adding to this unknown is each actor’s excellent improvisation skills; while the character backstories are very detailed, they can’t plan for every question. So when they get thrown a curveball they are forced to either dodge the question or make something up. Sometimes this improv is good enough to make you ask another character about it and when met with confusion you’re forced to try to figure out whether someone is lying or simply unaware.
Cross-analysis is a big part of the event as characters tend to have very strong opinions on each other. The opinions can color their comments, or perhaps they are lying to cover up a dark and shameful secret, such as a famous wizard being unable to read her own spellbook. These deceptions force the audience to interview multiple suspects in order to separate truth from fiction. After the initial round of questioning, the audience returns to their seats and the actors take center stage to give their official alibis. They describe where they were on the night of the Queen’s murder and what they were doing at the time. While most of the audience probably asked similar questions by this point, it’s nice to get alibis from any characters you might have missed. In addition, the characters might reveal some additional snippets of information.
One final round of questioning begins after the revealing of the alibis so the audience can hone in on their final suspect. Now that participants have more information, and critically, less time, questions become more and more direct. If participants fail to narrow down their suspicions in this final round of questioning they will not have any more chances to do so and will be forced to guess.
Guessing is done through a provided QR code and an associated Google Form. Audience members are given roughly five minutes to deliberate before the mystery is unveiled. However, this reveal is no simple announcement. The audience moves from the patio to the lawn to watch the actors play out the finale. The characters argue amongst themselves for a moment, and accusations are hurled left and right, before finally, in the heat of the moment, someone confesses. Drama ensues as the perpetrator is brought to light in spectacular fashion. Under the “pressure” of a truth-telling spell, Tyche the alchemist confessed to using their alchemical knowledge to poison the queen. Tyche, while now a rich alchemist in service to the Queen, was once quite poor in their childhood. Their desire for vengeance was drawn from the Queen’s poor treatment of the lower class, as she had consistently targeted her policies toward the benefit of nobles and the upper class. Sir Brutus Bandageworth drew his sword and attempted to arrest the murderer at once as the crowd looked on. But the case was not so easily solved, as the alchemist was determined not to go quietly. Tyche grabbed the cutlass from the belt of Pete the pirate and engaged Sir Brutus in a dramatic sword duel (pocket sand included). The crowd cheered as the fight reached its climax, with Sir Brutus skillfully disarming the Alchemist and bringing the play to its conclusion. As the crescendo of tension began to fade, the audience roared their applause, congratulating the actors on a fantastic performance and excited about what the future holds for Mask and Wig.