Kill the Ogden businessman -- and enjoy the Italian buffet

Murder-mystery play, dinner set for Saturday

Fri, Jan 7, 2005

By NANCY VAN VALKENBURG
Standard-Examiner staff
nvan@standard.net

At 7 p.m. Saturday, as many as 40 seemingly respectable citizens will pay $30 apiece to watch one of Ogden's well-known businessmen get murdered.

That price also includes a buffet dinner, of course.

The event is the inaugural murder-mystery evening at the Club Speakeasy, also known as Two-Bit Street Antiques and Cafe, at 126 Historic 25th St., Ogden.

"It's the perfect location for a murder mystery," said James Dayley, one of the owners of Two-Bit Street, which opened last year. "I've been to murder-mystery nights before and found them interesting, but they were usually in hotel banquet rooms that just didn't have the right atmosphere."

Not a problem with a character-filled historical building, Dayley said.

"We felt like this was the perfect location, and I rewrote the script to fit our community and our place," he said.

Script is a term Dayley uses loosely: There are no lines. And the audience serves as the cast.

The gangster era

This particular evening is set in a 1920s speak-easy populated by gangsters, flappers, gamblers, hit men, politicians and society couples with secrets to keep.

Each participant gets $500 in play money, a character name, personal history and character traits, and a list of secrets his or her assigned character would prefer to keep private.

A prim, proper woman may have a past as a madam. A gangster or society man may have met her as a customer.

Later in the evening, some of the secrets will be revealed to a few other guests, and the play money may come in handy for bribes.

Or guests can save the counterfeit cash by simply "poisoning" other guests. Instructions are included, and "death" is only temporary. (Those who wish to finish all of their Italian buffet food are advised to keep a close watch on their plates.)

One guest is assigned a more dramatic, plot-oriented death than the rest. And murder-mystery participants must come up with the motive and the killer. Super Sleuth certificates can be earned by solving that puzzle, by being the best actor, by retaining the most of the play money or by showing up with the best costume.

"It's a lot more interactive and fun than most murder-mystery evenings, where you watch actors as you eat dinner," said Dayley, an Ogden native with a background in the film and music businesses.

Next up: Jan. 22

Saturday night's show is nearly sold out, but another such evening is planned for Jan. 22. Dayley hopes to make the murder-mystery evening a twice-monthly event, with changes in the historical setting, plot and characters every so often.

Audiences should register early for the best choice of characters.

So, who will play the murder victim on Saturday night? Avert your eyes now if you don't want to know.

He's Bruce Edwards, best known for his views on how badly he thinks Ogden treats downtown businesses.

Edwards has posted a variety of angry, anti-Ogden messages in an empty storefront he owns on Historic 25th Street, for passers-by to read.

"You ask why we chose to kill Bruce Edwards," said Dayley, who considers himself a friend of Edwards. "Well, he is the guy that keeps saying Ogden is unsafe. Hee, hee, hee."