~Review and Photos by Dana Nöllsch~

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The Story of While the Lights Were Out

The play starts with the characters attending a dinner party in Bermuda hosted by a British couple who have many relationship challenges. The cast of characters is as diverse as the many secrets they keep. As you would expect, there is a constable who is a bit of a bumbling fool, but he is smart enough to bring his much more clever partner.

Things are going along just fine until the lights go out, and a shot is heard ringing out. When the lights come back on, there is a blond standing over the body, holding a bloody knife. One would think that the circumstances put an obvious conclusion to the murder, but wait, there’s more.

When the constable examines the corpse, he discovers that the victim was strangled, not stabbed, and not shot. There are many accusations from the guest as the prime suspect shifts from one person to the next. This is just the start of the silliness in this fun-filled, twisty murder mystery.

Keep your eyes open as the fast-paced mystery unfolds in very unexpected ways. For those of you who pride yourselves on following the clues to find the culprit first, you will have fun.

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Here are Some Photos from the production

What about the Performances

This cast of 15 is undoubtedly a powerhouse of talent. As you would expect, the cast’s size reflects the characters’ variety. This is a well-blended cast who are unafraid to play off each other for the audience’s benefit.

The rest of the cast have their moments of character building, and they do that brilliantly. When the play is over, the audience feels they know each character. This is a mark of a fine actor, and While the Lights Were Out is undoubtedly filled with many fine actors.

When we saw While the Lights Were Out, the theatre was filled with high school drama students. Opening the preview performance up to the high schools is something special the Reno Little Theater does for the community. Seeing the reaction of these young people is heartwarming. In this case, the student audience was very vocal in their appreciation of the actors on stage. This was fine praise indeed.

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The Bottom Line

If you like a good who-done-it, you will enjoy While the Lights Were Out. If you enjoy a silly, farcical comedy, you will like While the Lights Were Out. If you wish both, you will be overjoyed.

Be prepared for a long play, at 2 hours and 15 minutes, plus an intermission with a steady stream of twists and turns throughout. Although the first half goes by in the blink of a misplaced gunshot, the second half is where the real mystery sets in. 

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