Review: Hercules: Myth And Murder, Hen and Chickens Theatre

Camden Fringe 2024

You do not need to be a master detective to figure out that Hercules is a mashup of the crime solving brilliance and moustache of a certain Belgium detective and the strength of mythological half-god Hercules.  He is a very fun character to spend an hour in the company of in this energetic crime solving comedy.  But this adventure is also a musical, with very clever fast paced lyrics in the power ballads and rap battles.  The first five minutes serve as a brilliant statement of intent as the cast dive into their first song to explain the origin, life, abilities and world of the titular character.  This this the first of many musical numbers which are very much enhanced by pianist Finlay Stafford being ever present on stage to support the action.

Charlie Shape plays the great Hercules and his performance immediately makes it clear that this is not an imitation of the ‘real’ Poirot, but is an amalgamation of a range of fictional detectives, the good and bad sides.  Starting off as brilliant but somewhat brash and self-centred, we see a believable character arc unfurl as he develops into a more appreciative team player.  Near equal time and attention is given to Sophie Holmes as PC Peggy Hastings, who is overlooked and undervalued as she works hard to be recognised for her own crime solving skills.  Jack Dalton and Edward Ramsey portray the multitude of other police officers, shady criminals and others who are encountered.  Dalton and Ramsey (and occasionally Sharpe and Holmes) change costume, posture and accent at a very fast pace throughout the story.

There is a purposefully manic energy as the cast throw themselves around with gusto, launching into fun song and dance numbers and racing across the stage as the action progresses, with barely a pause for breath.  There is a playfulness and surrealism; the stage is minimal as the cast use simple props to represent locations and a foreign suspect holds up subtitle cards.  The cast spin around and distort their words as we enter flashbacks, dream sequences and hallucinations; Jushua Munday makes good use of lighting effects to distinguish between these elements and the ‘real’ world.  

There is also a good detective story being told to hang the music and jokes off.  There is a threat to the life of the Police Commissioner and the investigation leads to a Chess-Boxing competition populated entirely by other great fictional detectives, some expected and some surprising.  There are both clever jokes and subtle references made as these different detectives come and go, including too many Poirot references to keep track of.  As writer, Xavier Newton Fawcett very much follows the Agatha Christie rule of fair play to the audience; all the clues we need to identify the culprit and understand the motivation as presented to us to exercise our own little grey cells.  As with the best detective stories, there are red herrings and twists to keep the audience guessing.  The plot points and clues pay off well at the conclusion.

This is a brilliantly energetic show that is constantly moving forward, rapidly switching from song and dance, to jokes to character and plot beats.  The cast clearly work well together and are having a lot of fun, which really comes across to the audience.  This is enjoyable for any combination of fans of detective stories, comedy and music.

Written, directed and music by: Xavier Newton Fawcett
Lighting by: Joshua Munday
Produced by: Jack Dalton for We’re Gonna be a Dad Theatre Group

Hercules: Myth And Murder plays at Hen and Chickens Theatre until 1st August, and then plays at Camden People’s Theatre on 19th & 20th August.  Further information and bookings for both venues available here.

You can also read our interview with producer and actor Jack Dalton here.