Information about the play:

Did she jump or was she pushed?? - the opening puzzle in our next production: 'Take Away The Lady' by Jimmie Chinn. It moves on from there: everyone in the play has a good motive for doing the deed - not once but twice! An interpersonal family drama in the shape of an Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery, the play is set in a gloomy country house where tea is always served with sandwiches and stip upper-lip propriety. Chinn goes Christie one better by deftly incorporating the necessary exposition right at the start. Christie sometimes takes up the entire first act to set up her elaborate mousetrap plot machinery; Chinn simply begins.
The family gathers and are told by stern, dour, autocratic sister Lavinia that brother Matthew is 'coming home'; that is, from prison after serving fifteen years for the murder of their 'dear' mother. This news sets the dysfunctional, batty family flying and matters are further complicated when Matthew insists on his innocence. The question then hangs over the family; if he didn't do it, then who did?
The sisters don't get along and the sarcasm and tension between them cuts to the bone. Mousy Emma who plays her beloved card game Patience with the determination of a serial killer seems somewhat loose around the brain. Acid-tongued Celia who escaped the family years ago by marrying sweet, attentive Richard paces nervously, wanting to get out of the oppression as soon as possible; she's in high dudgeon having to await the arrival of supercilious sister-in-law Gilda who's carried on a fulfilling social life while her hubby, Matthew, is conveniently in prison and no-one likes her either.
Another family member is found dead and the race is on to find out which one of them is bumping the others off. The murderer could be any one of them and the audience goes along for this twisty ride never knowing who's telling the truth and trying to stay one step ahead of the story. It's all a clever game of cat and mouse on a layered chessboard with, eventually, one big cat and lots of rats.
Chinn, who is English, started out as an actor before writing radio plays and then moving to fully staged plays with several successes on West End.