by Mitchell Roush

Who’s the crazy old lady where you live?  Come on--every neighborhood has got one.

You know the type:  curious eye peering out from behind the window blinds, up to speed on all the juicy gossip, perhaps a captivating storyteller at the weekly bridge game.  The stereotype has laced mainstream entertainment for decades.  

It all keeps coming back to the simple declaration:  I must know what is going on!

Toss in a little light murder, and you’ve got yourself the deliciously comedic plot of Jack Popplewell’s, Busybody.  This hilarious play centers on a voluble cleaning woman who keeps telling the cops how to mind their business and steps forward with the right evidence in a pinch.

This neighborhood busybody lives in the basement of the office building she cleans. One night she finds a body. But by the time the police arrive, there is no body and no evidence. The wrong alarms are sent out, murdered men turn up alive, and the whole thing is chalked up to the cleaning woman's imagination until an unidentified body is discovered on a distant hill and the cleaning woman uncovers more evidence in the course of her duties.

Is the company owner staging his own murder? Or did he kill his wife's lover? Is the lover a firm employee or someone else? Where do the two female assistants fit in? What is the wife withholding?

For the 2017 Yorkshire Playhouse season, there may not be a more guaranteed hysterical evening of entertainment.  With the vibrantly talented, Emily Petersen, in the director’s chair--one’s assured that this journey of mistaken identity, whodunit?, and gossipy sleuthing will be a highlight of the year.

After all, it’s not very often you see the murder victim walk back on stage completely unharmed.  Or perhaps the apartment building’s token nosey-old-woman, Mrs. Piper, is just a touch on the zany-side.  Hard to be certain...but a memorable story nonetheless.

Filled with a thousand laughs, tingles, and surprises, Busybody will undoubtedly delight the audience.  Be sure to venture into the Playhouse this fall to be a part of a light and frothy evening of murderous proportions.