Teaming up with a number of charities across the UK and USA the international murder mystery specilaist
Red Herring Games has scheduled a Halloween Spooktacular for families which they hope will
raise thousands of pounds for worthy causes and bring a smile to faces in the midst of these uncertain times.
Their first charity event in August was welcomed by charities in the UK bringing in over £1000 in revenue split between eight different organisations, many of whom booked tickets for Halloween as soon as the show was over.
"It's a win:win:win." said Managing Director Jo Smedley.
"Our actors get paid doing something they love, Charities are able to raise money without any massive overheads, and the audience get to enjoy a fabulous socially distanced show while raising money for charities they want to support."
During the worst of the outbreak, Jo undertook a series of events to help raise money for the out of work actors associated with the business, and over the space of twelve weeks generated a following at the murder mystery shows which were held via zoom.
"It's been a steep learning curve" Jo said.
"We had no idea whether it would work when we started out.
"No one had run murder mystery events virtually before and no one knew if it would be of interest to the general public."
But it seems the hard work paid off, as the firm continues to go from strength to strength virtually with clients across the globe.
"These charity events are our way of giving back," added Jo.
"Our actors and customers supported us throughout Lockdown, and we're in a position now to pay that forward."
The team at Red Herring Games, have three shows planned for the 31st October starting with a socially distanced children's show called Trick or Treat Trouble where the actors try to find a missing skeleton aided by the children sitting at home.
"We've tried to make the show as interactive as possible."
"We're very lucky to have actors with a background in children's theatre working for us, and we've added in some of our experience creating mystery games for children, and my experience leading a youth group into the mix as well to create a fun interactive show designed for primary school age children."
The Trick or Treat show is followed by two further shows aimed at teens to adults with a much more black comedy feel.
"We have a number of customers in the USA as well as the UK so we've decided to run an event at 7.30 UK time followed by a second show at 7.30 Eastern Time,"said Jo.
The Halloween murder mystery has all the fun interactive elements you'd expect from the experienced murder mystery team, with pairs of glasses being passed between "screens" and a variety of wacky characters, including a grouchy grumbling plant.
"We've tried a serious show, but the feedback was overwhelmingly that the comedy fun shows are preferred.
"I think everyone just needs a bit of light relief at the moment."
"This one was written during the outbreak, and it includes as much comedy as we can squeeze in while retaining a backbone of serious murder mystery plotting which will have the sleuths puzzling at home."
Tickets for all three shows are now available on the links below: