How To Perform Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre
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How to select the performance venue or facility
Ultimately, it's all about the money.
We can say all we want about what makes this venue more effective than that venue, but your budget may cast the deciding vote on where your production will perform. Most times, however, the "cheapest place" is not really the best place for your show. The money you don't make in the long term may greatly outweigh your short term savings.
Your production is judged, in part, by the venue.
Particularily if you are serving food! The venue needs to exude an atmosphere that doesn't let your audience members think about dirt, germs, or clutter. Not all old buildings have "character." Some are just old and smell even older. A professional looking venue, new or old, says that to the audience that the production is professional. The opposite is also unfortunately true.
Pick your show to suit your venue.
Several years ago a local community theatre, housed in a low ceiled one story facility, selected Hello Dolly for their annual musical; talented cast and staff; solid performances.... but probably not the most effective choice for that organization's facilities resources. I can hear you frowning; "Any theatre can be done anywhere with enough sweat and imagination; that's what this art is all about!" Don't we all want to believe that. But in reality the special world of Hello Dolly works better with that two story staircase to animate those wonderful tunes. When you pick your venue, be sure that the special world of your play can plausibly exist in that space.
Eighty is great number.
When audience sizes exceed eighty, mystery interactive theatre become increasingly more challenging. Audience sizes of less than fifty are equally difficult; enough audience members to play with and provide variety but not so many that they begin to feel anonymous and safe. Audiences need to feel the danger; they need to be worried everytime a character approaches their table. Large audiences let the individuals blend in and relax. In a murder mystery, no one is safe! Also large audiences require larger spaces and make more ambient "table noise." Large audiences and large spaces usually require sound reinforcement.
What about the acoustics?
Do you really want to rent a sound system with ten body mics? And someone to set it up and run it? Extensively carpeted floors suck up the sound. Tile or hard covered floors echo and distort the actors' articulation. Every word must be heard and understood; how else will the audience members get all the clues? Find a space that doesn't require sound reinforcement for your performers. You will save yourself massive headaches and a buffet full of money.
What about sound cues?
Most shows do require some limited sound equipment for pre-show music, sound effects, and possibly a single hand held microphone that can be passed to audience members when the time comes for them to question the suspects. Be careful about speaker placement. Who wants to sit underneath the speaker? Keep the speakers close to the walls and avoid running cable across audience entrances and exits. If there is any way for that sweet little old lady to trip on the speaker cable, she will find it.
Does the room have a stage?
Hopefully your script doesn't require that the venue have a stage. The venue is the stage. The audience space is the acting area. This unified audience/performer space is what makes Mystery Murder theatre so unique. But you will need to "spread out" the tables. The performers need enough space to execute the dramatic action without the audience worrying about being stepped on or hurt; or worse we don't want the audience to feel cramped. Think of how you feel when the "whole" family shows up for Sunday turkey dinner and you place nine chairs around a six chair table.
What about lights?
What you see is what you get. In most banquet or reception venues you will not be able to bring in theatrical lighting... why would you want to anyway? The whole room is your stage. Just be sure that the room is well light. Remember the audience associates the brightness of the room with the performers' energy level. Dim rooms make your performers appear lethargic. Candles on tables add tremendous light and energy to the room.
Entrances and Exits
You need them. Lots of them. We need to keep the audience turning in their chairs. Hopefully your space has at least three entrances. Multiple entrances add surprise, suspense, and excitement to the show. Boring staging if all charactes enter and leave from the same place. The special world of the play that extends beyond this immediate room is difficult to build if there is only a single doorway. Remember also that your performers will share some of these pathways with the audience members.
Food Preparation area, dressing rooms, and water sources
As you examine the venue, (before you rent it) imagine the whole evening; imagine everything that your theatre organization will be required to do in this space to make the Murder Mystery experience live for the audience. Questions like: where will the performers dress; where will they wait to go on; can they use the restroom without meeting a patron; where can you store/prepare the food; where to store/conceal props? See your whole physical special world created in this venue. See how your production lives within that world. Then choose.