Shear Madness - The Mill at Sonning ★★★★

There is nothing nicer on a hot sunny day than eating a meal overlooking the River Thames and then immersing yourself in a cool theatre for a game of comic whodunnit. This means that The Mill at Sonning is delivering a win-win again for the amateur detectives of Berkshire, bringing a locally themed production of Shear Madness to its show space until 15th August 2026. Directed by the Mill’s actor-owner Sally Hughes, the show promises madcap improvisation, hilarious wordplay and plenty of audience involvement. We all need a good laugh at the moment, so can this comic crime caper deliver a crop of cutting remarks, or will it prove to be just a comb-over of a weak storyline?

The premise for the show was originally conceived by Paul Pörtner in 1963, calling his more serious German version ‘Scherenschnitt’. He hit upon the idea that a show could be much more entertaining if it could be shaped by its audience, leaving the actors to adapt their lines to fit. We are so used to everything being interactive these days, but this was truly innovative sixty years ago. Once American performers Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan realised the comic potential of the hair salon plus murder situation, mixed with audience participation, it became one of the most popular and durable interactive shows in the world.

As the audience enters the auditorium, we become observers in the Shear Madness salon somewhere in Henley-on-Thames, joining the hairdressers who are already going about their work. Alex Marker‘s set design is a classic cut with sumptuous wallpaper, flamingo pink walls and barbers’ chairs interlaced with pops of mint and mulberry. There is an impressive working shower and basin to the front and centre of the stage, allowing the characters to wash hair and then blood off their hands.

The setup is simple: hairdresser Tony Whitcomb runs the salon, working together with ambitious stylist Barbara McMarley, and paying rent to landlady and renowned classical pianist Isabel Czerny, who also lives upstairs. The first part of the show introduces us to all the key characters via the comings and goings of clients and visitors, following the usual structure of any sitcom with plenty of Reading and Henley jokes thrown into the mix, some not really landing with the audience. Then a murder is perpetrated upstairs and out of sight, and two of the clients announce themselves to be undercover cops. This is when the fun and games begin, and the show really gets going.

The house lights are turned on, and the cast starts to break down the fourth wall when plain-clothes detective Nick O’Brien steps up a gear and comes forward to tell us that we are all witnesses, so he needs our help to uncover the murderer. This involves a careful reenactment of the proceedings by the company in a hunt for motive and proof, and a challenge to our brain cells in remembering what occurred and what did not. We find ourselves getting embroiled in the puzzle and, like reading a cosy crime novel, trying to guess who the perpetrator is before it is revealed. During the interval the detective prowls the theatre bar, asking people if they have any further thoughts or questions he could ask the suspects.

The second act continues to explore the clues as the company has to hold its own in the face of increasingly bizarre suggestions from the audience. Ultimately the murderer is unmasked and reveals their motive to the satisfied crowd. We can leave for home feeling like we’ve done our bit for the safety of the residents of Henley.

Director Sally Hughes has given her ensemble enough rope to have fun with the loose script and the even looser participatory members of the audience. The show just needs one or two loud-mouthed eccentrics in the gallery to bring it alive, and with over 200 seats at each performance, the odds are that there will be at least a couple of people who really want to get stuck into the investigation. And the cast seem to relish the opportunity to give as good as they get. It’s the first part of the show that feels laboured because very few of the scripted jokes are cutting-edge and some of the better lines are blunted by their delivery. It is only when the actors start to relax and improvise that the laughter readily comes.

Paul O’Neill (The Beatles: The Musical, As You Like It, Henry V) plays the undercover detective Nick O’Brien, delivering cutting ripostes to the audience’s ill-thought-out observations and clearly loving being untethered from the script. He is a little awkward with the physical comedy demanded of his role but makes up for that with a quick wit and wonderful comic timing, showing clear exasperation at the inane statements and raising some of the biggest laughs. He is supported by Gwithian Evans (The Mousetrap), ably performing his gawky junior, Mike, who takes notes and does the legwork in the investigation. Tony Whitcomb, brought to us by Daniel Cane (Come From Away, The Pride, The Country Wife) as your archetypal ebullient gay coiffeur, is played with a passionate abandon and pent-up rage befitting of a Henley hairdresser. Rosaleen Burton (Vitamin D, Jumper) gives us her Barbara McMarley, like a shady Carry On’s Barbara Windsor. Burton is all coiffed, plucked and preened, giving every sense of a good-time girl who wants more for herself. She magnificently manages to wash and set her client’s hair on stage whilst delivering withering looks and comic lines. Mrs Shubert, played with haughty gusto by Natalie Ogle (Calendar Girls, We’ll Always Have Paris, Private Lives), is her wealthy customer with secrets and a convenient alibi. Jonathan Markwood (One Man Two Guvnors, Cinderella, Bingo Star) makes an engaging and sardonic Mr Lawrence. Dressed by costume designer Natalie Titchener in shoes and a waistcoat to match the salon’s mint paint, Markwood adeptly captures the slightly sleazy antiques dealer who comes to visit Mrs Czerny.

The end result is a fresh and enjoyable couple of hours in the company of actors who seem to love their characters, as well as the weird questions from the gallery of witnesses. It’s a show that can’t be spoilt by any review because the performances, audience participation and resulting final scenes are always changing. It’s easy to see why puzzled theatregoers would want to come back and see a different outcome each night and why this whodunnit has been so successful for so many years around the world.