STRAIGHT MURDER MYSTERIES

We provide a variety of themes for straight murder mystery dinners in Canada for private parties and corporate events. We consult with you to come up with the best approach for the group involved, whether it is for a family or employees of a company. The Straight Murder Mystery is the industry standard, though we've been known to take it to the next level anywhere in the country. From Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler in British Columbia, to Edmonton, Calgary and Banff in Alberta, to Toronto and the rest of the GTA, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Ottawa in Ontario, and Montreal and Mont Tremblant in Quebec, THEY have you covered!

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STRAIGHT MURDER MYSTERIES

ENTERTAINING YOUR PRIVATE PARTIES AND CORPORATE EVENTS

The Straight Murder Mystery is what people think of when someone mentions this kind of event. A group of actors interacts with your audience starting during cocktails getting out an understanding of who the characters are. During dinner, we interact at the tables, argue around the room, and have moments in front of the audience as a whole. This leads to a murder that occurs at the beginning of dessert. We rarely have gunshots as we don't want to risk a heart attack among the audience. Then our comedic detective performs a comedy routine interrogating audience members. Often the detective is played by the same actor that played the victim to keep the cost down. The audience then solves the crime by table, usually, with the winners getting small prizes. And, of course, they laugh all along the way.

SOME THEMES

These are just a few. Usually we customize scenarios to our client's desires.

Death of The Alderman

This 1920's themed party involves the election of an Alderman to the local city council. The party is a celebration of his victory and those in attendance are his supporters dressed as flappers and mobsters. This includes the North Side Mob, the South Side Mob, his spouse, political figures and temperance workers. It's a great time had by all and we can add a costume contest as well.

The Meeting of the Family

This mobster themed show involves the head of the local family. Taking on the personality of your city, the show quickly customizes to the audience involved. Suspects usually include a spouse, a Consigliari, a rival mobster and a politician in the pocket of the mob.

Murder of The Millionaire

One of the more standard scenarios, this involves a millionaire who made his wealth on the backs of many others. This is a celebration were he is making an announcement about the future of his business and those potentially effected are not happy. This likely includes a spouse, a girlfriend, a business partner, a yes-man, a competitor and a politician. By changing characters and changing the origin of his fortune we can quickly customize a scenario just for your group.

The Murder of 008

Our own take on the spy genre has the death of 008. You Only Live Twice? Not so fast! Our second fiddle secret agent to his more famous counterpart decides to retire and a rogues gallery of suspects emerge.

The Movie or Music Mogul

This Hollywood themed party involves the celebration of a movie or music mogul. The various pseudo famous actors, actresses, writers, singers and directors suffer at the whims of the mogul and one of them has gotten their revenge. While originally performed as being in the 1940s, we have done just about every era you can think of including the 70s, 80s, 90s, and modern era.

Custom Scenarios

We have a collection of great themes that can fit most any occasion. Additionally, we can create just about any scenario that you can think of, and often at no additional cost. The costs do rise when additional costumes, more actors or travel is required. We have performed practically every thing you can think of and can create new ones as needed. If you have a themed party and would like to see if we can provide a show that will fit, simply ask. There is never an obligation until we get a signed contract.

A customized Straight Murder Mystery show written just for you is a perfect way to have quality entertainment that has your audience laughing. These are perfect to entertain for holiday parties, weddings, family gatherings, season kick-offs, banquets, dinners or charity fundraisers!

FLOW OF THE EVENING

RUN TIME ANYWHERE FROM 90 MINUTES TO 3 HOURS

COCKTAILS - we are already in character, interacting with your audience as they arrive. Mostly we are introducing the characters to the audience and creating more of a festive atmosphere.
GETTING SEATED - our host gets people seated at the appropriate time and delivers THE SPEECH. This is where we explain how the evening will work and how to play the game. The characters may be introduced in front of the audience.
DINNER - we help move things along by facilitating the servers' efforts or by releasing people appropriately to buffet lines. In the meantime, our performers are having arguments and fights around the room, interact with audience members, and provide small speeches or moments in front of the audience to get plot points out to the audience while entertaining at the same time.
MURDER - once people are leaning back in their chairs after eating, or during the beginning of dessert, we have the murder. Our VICTIM will be in front of everyone and die. This is usually a poisoning to avoid potential problems, but we can accommodate your desires. Often, the victim comes back as the Detective, or we can use a separate actor if you prefer. If a separate Detective, then we could let people take pictures with the victim like Weekend at Bernies!
INVESTIGATION - our Detective is a professional comedian with years of experience with crowd work. The Detective pulls people up and interrogates them to get information out about our suspects. While the comedian pokes a little bit of fun along the way, the comedian usually leaves them looking like rock stars, building them up rather than tearing them down.
RESOLUTION - we solve the crime in one of three ways. For the first, which is going table to table to answer questions, could take much longer with audiences of more than 60 or so. The Second, each table views the interrogations and then submits their answers. The Third stations the suspects around the room and allowing people to interrogate them for a set amount of time and bringing the information back to their tables so that they can come up with a group answer. The Fourth, we resolve it on stage using something that we call the Chief Prosecutors. This brings people up from the audience to MAKE THEIR CASE. We get the answers, present the correct murderer and reward the winners, along with some fun people from the audience. This is a great choice for larger groups of 90 or more. Unlike some companies, we are 100% confident that someone will have given the correct answer!

WE USE YOUR PARTY THEME
We have many themes and can customize to just about any other that you can think of. Some of the more common themes include: The 1920's or 1930's for a Prohibition Era party, A Millionaire's Mansion, A Movie Mogul, Mobsters, A Wedding, Spies, and many others. If you want to have a particular theme that is not on this page, just let us know!

These shows can be provided not only in the evening, but also make a great idea for a lunch or at other times during the day that might not even be around a meal. Reach out to us and discuss various ideas that can work for you. After all, it's not about US. It's about our clients, and what THEY need!

WE COME TO YOU!
We work with groups that are small, medium and large. We also work with people that are in the city, the suburbs, and that are in more rural areas. It never made sense to get our own facilities. We come to a venue of your choosing and this allows you to make your own food and beverage options. In general, you want enough light to see, enough space to move around comfortably, and it should be quiet enough to hear. Everything else can be adjusted to.

THEY improv can provide straight murder mystery dinner shows throughout Canada in The GTA (Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton), the rest of the Golden Horseshoe (Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and St. Catharines), the rest of Ontario (Ottawa, Waterloo Region, Windsor and London), Alberta (Banff, Medicine Hat, Calgary and Edmonton), British Columbia (Vancouver, North Van, West Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, Victoria, Kamloops, and Whistler), Quebec (Quebec City, Mont Tremblant, Gatineau, and Montreal), Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Maritimes (Halifax in Nova Scotia, New Bruswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador), and many other locations. Likewise, our professionals can travel for an additional fee to other parts of the country.

ALBERTA

With Banff as a major destination for corporate retreats, we can provide a wide range of services. We also serve Calgary and Edmonton.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Whistler is a major destination for corporate retreats and is within range of our Vancouver regional HQ. We also serve the rest of the area and Victoria.

MANITOBA

We can help the companies and clients in Winnipeg as well as through the larger area as needed.

NOVA SCOTIA

We are proud to provide our programs from our regional HQ in Halifax. This allows for major consulting for local companies.

ONTARIO

Toronto is our regional HQ for Ontario, but we are proud to serve Niagara Falls, Mississauga, Ottawa, London and Windsor.

QUEBEC

While focused on our English-speaking clients, we provide our programs in Montreal, Quebec City and throughout the province. We serve the market with less providers.

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS THE OCCASION?

The first step is to determine your needs. This includes potential goals, desires and concerns. The more we know about what has already been decided can allow us to narrow the conversation to approaches that interest you.

WHAT ARE THE DETAILS? WHERE? WHEN? HOW MANY PEOPLE?

We need to know the city where the event will be as well as what kind of venue might be used. A date, or date range, for when you would like to have this and what time frame you are looking for will help to determine our commitment and availability. Knowing the size of your group, though that will likely just be an estimate, will allow us to choose appropriate options and have a better feel for the resources required.

DO YOU HAVE A BUDGET IN MIND?

If you know budget limitations, that can allow us to restrict the conversations to those options that will be within your financial constraints. This works in both directions. We don't want to overbuild and propose options that can't be done. Also, we don't want to provide less than we could realizing the resources that could be made available to better achieve your goals.