Some of us are not big fans of murder mysteries per se, but if the characters are finely drawn and well-acted, and the humor is lightly satirical, and a few issues of social significance are at stake, a thriller such as Central Works’ “Accused!” can make for entertaining theater.
The new third (and final) show in Central Works playwright Patricia Milton’s endearing trio of comedies about the ever-so-British but headstrong Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective is hard to resist, however you feel about dead bodies hidden in cupboards, Dickensian creeps, mysteriously murdered husbands, bombs, severed thumbs and such.
Set in London in 1894—and staged gracefully on the tiniest of playing areas, in the Berkeley City Club, a 50-seat house—the production maintains a careful attention to detail, as is usual for Central Works: impeccable dialects (Alan Coyne, dialect coach), elegant wigs (designed by Michael Berg), and period-perfect costumes by Tammy Berlin.
Two of the three lady detectives from the most recent episode, 2022’s “Escape from the Asylum,” reappear here: Central Works’ cofounder/co-artistic director Jan Zvaifler as the unflappable Valeria, given to baking oddly inedible scones, and Chelsea Bearce as the tough, outspoken American member of the threesome.
Newcomer Lauren Dunagan joins the trio of sleuths as Valeria’s excitable sister, Loveday. The relationships among all three are perfectly balanced and, under Kimberly Ridgeway’s direction, always believable, from sisterly hugs to three-way tiffs to silent warning glances and coded whispers.
Early on, a prospective client, Miss Tinglepenny (Sindu Singh), stumbles into the detective agency’s lodgings, gasping that her friend has been murdered—and that she herself will probably be next.
Anarchists may be involved. Bombs. How does the neighbor’s cat figure in, and what of Valeria’s sudden craze for garden gnomes? And then there’s the one-eyed police inspector (Singh again, with an almost impenetrable Cockney accent), who comes sniffing around suspiciously.
And of course there are the three creepy male characters, all played by Coyne (with gratifying detail but a bit too cartoonishly in contrast to the women’s realism): the supercilious Lord Albert, a loathsome deacon, a prancing, lascivious Frenchman.
On the one hand, it’s great fun to watch the three heroines at work to solve an increasingly complicated case.
But the play, at slightly over two hours with intermission, is unnecessarily long, with too many lengthy arguments between adversaries exploring conflicting values—sexism, anti-foreigner sentiment, and more — rather than developing the characters further or moving the story forward.
As for the story itself: As one sister remarks in Act 2, “This … escapade is remarkably convoluted.” (Quite so. Full confession: I could barely follow it.)
Still, to watch Dunagan’s Loveday, the only lady detective who can speak French, converse with the clueless Frenchman next door—both speaking English with hilariously thick but impeccable French accents—is pure delight.
What will clever Patricia Milton come up with next?
Central Works’ “Accused!” continues through Aug. 11 at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. Tickets are $20-$45 at centralworks.org.