By BRUCE DENNILL
The Curious Case of Katherine Sinclair is a genre-bending jukebox cabaret murder mystery in which the dead woman tells her own story. Socialite Katherine Sinclair (Megan Armstrong-Davies) has been murdered, her body has vanished, and the suspect list runs longer than her cocktail tab – a flamboyant detective, a haughty husband, and a parade of lovers (all played, suspiciously, by the same man). Across fractured timelines and reimagined hits from Raye to Amy Winehouse, this ragtag, actor-driven production trades scale for imagination and earnestness for humour. It’s stylish, irreverent, and just a little bit dangerous – a whodunnit where the victim has the best lines, the music has been to therapy, and nobody, least of all Katherine, can be trusted.
Armstrong-Davies talks about being involved in the show.
In the lead-up to a new production, how do you prepare…
Physically: I try and get a little exercise in to and try to be in better shape.
Mentally: Whatever it takes to calm down a little. The thought of what needs to be done is quite often far more punishing than what actually needs to be done. Long walks with my dogs while reciting lines and song lyrics is a daily activity.
Emotionally: I try to make as many life demands as possible fall away at these junctures and allow myself a little grace. I have four children and a busy home life so space is a luxury but in these moments, space is exactly what I try and afford myself.
What is the single most influential performance you’ve ever seen – the one that made you feel: “This is what I want to do with my life!”?
The performance which has touched me the most and remains my favourite play is The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. It was a set work assigned to us in around grade 10 and we watched a recording of the theatre performance. It was not quite as wonderful as being in a theatre but I loved it because I’d never seen the portrayal of someone so vulnerable.
What is your favourite aspect of the industry – be it specific people, parts of the production process, particular venues/locations or something else?
My ‘hands down’ favourite part of being in this industry is the occasional moment you really get to touch someone’s life. Last year, after a difficult performance of Shirley Valentine, an audience member wrote to me explaining that my portrayal of Shirley had made her reevaluate so many things and she’d even arranged a breakfast with her estranged mother on the back of it. That left an imprint on me. If you tell a story powerfully enough, it might just stay with someone.
What is an aspect of the industry that you feel could be improved (even if that’s only an idealistic wish)?
This a very easy question to answer. There is far too little opportunity for people with real talent and ability to get a chance to perform. It’s such a tremendous waste and it could so easily be rectified.
What has been your scariest onstage/on set moment so far (anything from forgetting words or cues to accidents or other unforeseen events)?
Easily my scariest moment was in February 2025. I was performing Shirely Valentine at the Homecoming Centre and it was opening night. For those who don’t know, Shirley Valentine is a one-woman show and I’ve never been in a show where singing wasn’t my primary job. I’m also an extreme latecomer – I only started acting, singing and performing at the age of 42 and I’ve just turned 50. So, the stakes were huge and I was petrified. The night in question was the first time there was an audience. About a third of the way through the show, I uttered my line and got up to move to the next position blocked when the audience laughed at the line I’d just delivered. In that moment, I thought to myself – ‘Ah, they laughed, they liked that!’. It was in that exact moment that I lost my concentration. I had no idea what my next line was; I literally lost any thread of the play. There are no other actors, no cues, nothing and I started to panic. My director had said to me that if I lose my way, just go to the cooking station and pretend to peel potatoes or do something and I did. For a good few minutes I had to find some ‘Shirley Valentinisms’ to try and reinsert myself into the script and miraculously I did it! Trust me, when act two rolled round, I gave the performance of my life and no one really seemed to notice, but I could have been looking into the face of a Mozambican spitting cobra and felt less terror than I did in that moment.