The Last Gasp

Description

The Last Gasp

It is 1899. George Sweet, the 5th Earl of Coddingham, has lead a wicked and dissolute life. His past is finally catching up with him and, eager to keep out of reach of the law, he is planning to flee abroad. Before he goes, he is holding one final party… The Last Gasp.
This Victorian murder mystery runs for about three hours. It works particularly well when run on New Year’s Eve but is fine on other dates, too. Everyone taking part is given a character in the plot. As well as having a murder to investigate, characters will also have their own, secret objectives. Why does the church choir only accept female members? Where is the Earl hiding all his money? Can anyone persuade Captain Ratliffe to do the decent thing? At The Last Gasp, anything can happen – and generally does!

The Plot

Invited to the Earl’s “Last Gasp” party are all the people to whom his appalling behavior has brought the most grief and heartache: his ex-wives, Florence and Dawn, his present wife, Jojo, his ballet dancer son, William, and his long-suffering friend, Bernard. George is determined to use his party to make up for past mistakes.

People from the Earl’s local village and members of his staff are also here. The local vicar is recruiting new members for the church choir, cavalry officer Captain Ratliffe is breaking a few more women’s hearts, and Jarvis, the Earl’s loyal butler, is making sure no one steals the sherry. The Earl’s plans go slightly awry, however, when the police unexpectedly turn up, hoping to arrest someone for murder. Who do they want to arrest? The Earl of Coddingham….

Please download the free introduction (a PDF file). If you decide this is the game for you, click the “ADD TO BASKET” button on this page and then checkout. If you’ve already bought the game and need to access it, you can do so here.

Period Drama

Because this plot is set in 1899 in Victorian England, your guests may want to dress up for it. It’s not essential that they do this and everything will still work fine if they don’t. But, if they do, you may like to point them towards the Costume Guide on our UK site. This has a whole section devoted to what people wore in Victorian times.

Age Groups This Plot Suits

Some characters in this plot do things which normal, decent people don’t do. Murder, adultery, blackmail, etc. Its content, however, is not particularly shocking and we don’t believe it will usually cause most people offence. For that reason, we rate this plot as suitable for those aged 12 and over.

Hire an actor

Our company is based in the UK in London and this is where most of our actors also live. If you want to hire an actor to run your event or get us to put together and manage everything for you, we’ll be delighted to do so.  Please go to this page for more about how this might work.

Copyright Protection and Terms and Conditions

Our games are mainly intended for private groups and are bought under license to be played once. If you are a private buyer, please see our Terms and Conditions. If you’d like to raise money by running one of our games either as a charity or as a business, please see our Note on copyright at the bottom of this page.