Upcoming performances

Who killed the vet? A murder mystery by Chris Martin

Ovingham Reading Room, 11 July 2026

It shouldn’t happen to a vet… but it did!

In the picturesque village of Darrowby Sandy Bottom in Sparrowdale, Leo Cooperthwaite runs his small but successful business, the Crooked Stiles Veterinary Practice. Originally a working practice where Leo treated all creatures great and small, Crooked Stiles has moo-ved into the television business and produces “Country Piles”, a show where animals are treated fur real.

But as they gear up for a 10th anniversary special, it becomes clear that the paw-sitive vibes are only a facade. Not everyone in Leo’s team is pleased with how he hogs the limelight, and with the show’s ratings in free foal things are no longer stable. With more and more people feline udderly frustrated with Leo, one of them decides to unleash his inner killer… and soon Leo finds himself cat-astrophically dead!

Join us in the Reading Room this July for a barking mad murder mystery, and see if you can vet the suspects and identify the purr-petrator of this murder most fowl!

Programme

As with our previous murder mysteries, the play will be performed as a whodunnit. The play has three acts. There will be a break after the first and second acts, to give you time for discussion around clues and to complete answer forms. The evening will also include an optional pie and peas supper served in the first break, with dessert served in the second break.

There will as always be prizes for the funniest answer as well as the correct answer.

Tickets

This performance is part of a fundraising campaign for a fantastic cause: helping one of our local Scouts to reach the World Scout Jamboree in Poland in 2027. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a young person to represent our village on a global stage, learn leadership skills, and build international friendships. Your ticket will help turn a big dream into a reality.

We will be putting one production only at 7.30pm on 11 July 2026. Tickets cost £18 with food and £10 without food. The food will include two courses: pie and peas served in the first break, and dessert served in the second break.

Tickets can be ordered using the form below, with payment made at the door by cash or card on the day of the performance. Please use the drop-down list to select the number of tickets of each type you want, and click on ‘Add to cart’ next to each ticket type. If you then click on ‘Cart’, there is a very simple check-out process. Your order is complete when you see a “Payment confirmation” message.

You will receive email confirmation of your order. They may end up in your spam folder, so please check there as well. If you have any questions, or if you haven’t received the email confirming your order, please contact us at tickets@ovinghamdrama.org.uk.

Saturday, 11 July (starting time: 7.30 pm)