Rag and Bone Theatre Company wants to take you back in time this October, ready to help solve a murder-mystery.

In conjunction with the Maylands Peninsula Sports and Recreation Club, Who Killed Candy Sweetness? is a chance to enjoy a three-course dinner and a 1930s-style show as the audience becomes part of the investigation.

Written by Perth local Bree Vreedenburgh and directed by the award-winning Jane Sherwood, it also features The Hullabaloo Hoppers, the Perth Swing Dance Society’s popular performance troupe.

After 1930s radio ballroom singer Candy Sweetness is killed, Detective Robert Soxx is on the case – his prime suspects include charismatic band leader Smoothy McGroovy, millionaire playboy Lonegan Megabucks and Bess, Tess and Jess from the musical trio The Schless Sisters. The waiters, maître d’, chef and even the audience may come under suspicion.

Vreedenburgh, who is also the show’s musical director and stage manager, said she wrote Who Killed Candy Sweetness? because she always wanted to go to dinner and a show.

“I’ve always been disappointed that I was born in the wrong era and couldn’t do that so my first inspiration was to give audiences the opportunity,” she said.

Acting in Dimboola in 2010, where audience members are treated as guests at a country wedding, also whetted Vreedenburgh’s appetite for dinner-theatre.

“Searching around for something to base a show on, I read about a 1930s dance hall in California called the Palomar Ballroom where swing is said to have been launched by Benny Goodman,” she said. “It had nightly radio broadcasts, which drew the crowds, and the dance floor could hold 4000 couples.

“Putting those things together, I came up with the idea of a 1930s radio ballroom murder-mystery. The play is very tongue-in-cheek and the characters are all caricatures.

“With Who Killed Candy Sweetness? we're putting loads of effort into transforming the venue into an authentic 1930s ballroom. We're also asking everyone to come dressed up in their best 1930s finery so the experience will be even more immersive.”

Who Killed Candy Sweetness? plays at 7.30pm, October 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20 at the Peninsula Ballroom.

Tickets are $69, $64 concession and include a three-course dinner and complimentary drink on arrival. Book on 9255 3336 or at www.TAZTix.com.au.

The Peninsula Ballroom is at the Maylands Peninsula Sports and Recreation Club, 50 Clarkson Road, Maylands. More information is available at www.ragandbonetheatre.com.au.

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