On The Edge is a theatre piece that takes the rulebook of the murder-mystery and stuffs it up Hercule Poirot's arse. David Leddy plays the character of The Doctor, a foolhardy and farcical amateur sleuth who assists the resourceful and enigmatic Inspector in the solving of a dastardly murder. All the generic suspects are present: There's the Charleston-dancing 'bright young thing' and the ubiquitous suspicious foreigner. There's the shrewish cigar-puffing spinster with her slicked back hair and golfing tweeds. There's the muddled old Major and there is, of course, the omnipresent Butler!

Under the surface of the show's outlandish façade is a biting satire of the genre's politics. Drawing on Leddy's research into the work of the real Victorian criminologists who gave birth to our obsession with the murder-mystery, the show draws a line between the origin of criminology and the myriad of clichéed psychotic gay killers peppered throughout Hollywood's history. A pastiche of Agatha Christie combines starkly with references to Macbeth and Bartok's fairy-tale murder-opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle, powered along by David Leddy's enigmatic stage presence and oddball wit.

"On The Edge is about peeling away the layers of murder mysteries," he says. "We all know the genre so well because it's been copied so endlessly. But we never stop to question what lies underneath. I want to gently pick it to pieces and turn the style into something new and unexpected. The show certainly starts off as camp fun but as it continues we see it become darker and more twisted. At the same time it presents itself up-front as a straightforward pastiche of the murder-mystery but later delves into cultural theory that deconstructs the dodgy politics."

On The Edge premiered at The Arches in Glasgow in November 2001 and was invited back for another showing in March 2002. It then went on to press and audience acclaim at The Pleasance as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

THE PRESS ABOUT ON THE EDGE

"Like Cluedo on smack… A mix of the humorous and the intellectual, the light-hearted and the political"
The Scotsman

"A performance as conversant in murder mystery as it is in camp cabaret and Shakespeare, he mounts a case against Agatha Christie and her cliche-spawning, stereotyping progeny… A winner!"
Scotland on Sunday

"Leddy delves beneath the clichés to expose the racism, sexism and homophobia lurking in the genre, from Victorian criminologists to modern Hollywood."
BBC Online

"Witty and ingenious"
The Mail on Sunday

"A killer of an evening"
The Stage

"A treat"
The List

CRITIC'S CHOICE The Scotsman
CRITIC'S CHOICE The Observer
CRITIC'S CHOICE BBC Online
CRITIC'S CHOICE Scotland on Sunday
CRITIC'S CHOICE The Herald
CRITIC'S CHOICE The List