On Friday 24 April 2009 staff from John Oxley Library had the opportunity to watch Maxine Mellor’s “Mystery Project”. This play was presented in The Studio at the State Library by Queensland Theatre Company in conjunction with State Library of Queensland.

 Maxine Mellor

Maxine Mellor was playwright in residence at the John Oxley Library in November and December 2008. Throughout her residence she searched through books, old diaries, art, photos, magazines, newspapers, films and music to gather ideas for the play. 

In this exciting murder mystery, Agatha, an aspiring detective, meets Elspeth, a girl from the nineteenth century. Elspeth explains that she was murdered and she wants Agatha to use her detective skills to work out who murdered her. As the play progresses, various murder suspects and their motives are considered in a fun and playful way, with plenty of laughs from the audience along the journey.

The setting for the play was a miniature library, and the focus for the story was Elspeth’s half-written diary.  The actors, Nelle Lee (Agatha) and Kathryn Marquet (Elspeth) used voice and physical theatre action to portray a variety of different characters and tell stories in playful and creative ways.

An outstanding performance by Nelle and Kathryn with splashes of humour throughout the production. It was thoughtfully scripted by Maxine, well directed by Joseph Mitchell and a pleasure to watch.

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