CARNDUFF - Carnduff Education Complex teacher Regan McDougald-Cowan thought it would be a good idea for students to present a play to their fellow students, staff, families, friends and community in 2023.
The first year was successful enough that she thought it was worth doing again in 2024. Unfortunately, the labour dispute between Saskatchewan's teachers and the provincial government meant teachers were unable to do anything beyond classroom time. That resulted in the play being a no-go.
But that was all cleared up and McDougald-Cowan decided to give it another whirl in 2025. She began searching for a play that the students would enjoy doing and that the audience would enjoy watching. She found Too Many Detectives At The Murder Mansion by Ian McWelty.
This past January, recruitment for the cast began. She needed 17 students and was hoping to find them in the Grade 8-12 range. Not enough actors were found from that grade span, so she had to widen the parameters to include those from Grade 7. It worked; enough were found to stage the production.
The preparation was demanding. For over three months, students used three lunch hours a week and stayed after school for another hour each week. Three weeks before the big day, the practising intensified. The lunch hour practices continued, but two more hour-long sessions were added at the end of the school day.
While all this was going on, teacher Cathy Paton and the Grade 7 professional applied arts/art class, along with some Grade 8 students and one from Grade 11, worked on making props and designing the set. The funding for this came by way of a donation from the disbanded Carnduff Community Drama Club.
Finally, the date for presenting the fruit of all this hard work came April 16 with two showings. For about an hour, the world’s most famous detectives gathered and put their skills of deduction together to determine who had murdered Madam Doyle. Sherlock Holmes was there, as were Miss Marple, Sam Spade, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Even Batman and Scooby-Doo's Mystery Machine crew tried to solve the baffling mystery. But they were all stumped.
It wasn’t until the third surprise ending that the case was solved – and even the brightest detective minds were surprised.
