A mystery dinner is a popular type of

dinner theater Dinner theater (sometimes called dinner and a show) is a form of entertainment that combines a restaurant meal with a staged play or musical. "Dinner and a show" can also refer to a restaurant meal in combination with live concert music, where pat ...

in which the play is a

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

, and the diners are invited to solve the mystery as they eat and watch the play. In many mystery dinners, there is no separate stage from the eating area; instead, the actors are mixed in with the diners — and often improvise dialog with diners — creating a more immersive atmosphere. Fully immersive mystery dinners are a type of

murder mystery game Murder mystery games are a genre of party games where one of the players is secretly playing a murderer, while the other players must determine who among them is the criminal. In some styles of game, the murderer may be aware that they are the k ...

in which audience members themselves play character roles — often suspects — in themed costume. There are numerous mystery dinner theaters throughout the United States and United Kingdom, these are established venues that provide public shows.

Joy Swift Joy Angela Swift MBE (born 2 October 1956) is a businesswoman, writer and events organiser from Liverpool, who is best known as the inventor of the murder mystery weekend. Early life and family background Swift was born in Blundellsands, Li ...

is credited with inventing the murder mystery weekend – an interactive dinner theatre which runs uninterrupted from Friday to Sunday – at a hotel in Liverpool on 30 October 1981. She was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in the 2002 New Year Honours for her invention. There are also kits available for "hosting your own murder mystery dinner" at home, as well as troupes of actors who perform (and cater) private shows, or mystery dinners, in client's homes. Some such kits may not be specifically written for a dinner event, but can be adapted to suit that purpose.

References

External links

"Hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner Party"
About.com

grimprov.com Theatrical genres Restaurants by type Dinner theatre Detective fiction {{mystery-stub

See also

References

External links