Bernice Summerfield

#5.04. The Masquerade of Death ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

I simply adore how often this range will venture into the experimental and slightly insane, something it has been doing ever since the first episode flung us into the land of pantomime.

Stewart Sheargold has already shown that he likes to be ambitious and experimental with ‘The Mirror Effect’, but it appears he’s taken a leaf out of the trip to Panto Land. It’s time for a trip to the theatre like no other!

“The Play's the Thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.”

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to another in our exciting series of adventures with the witty, irreverent and courageous heroine, Professor Bernice Summerfield.

In tonight's story our daring adventuress and her sidekick, Adrian, find themselves imprisoned in a crumbling palace in the Prison Season of Spring, replete with an imperious queen and prissy but rather sweet AI gaoler.

How did they arrive? And why doesn't anyone know who the famous Bernice Summerfield is?

Before too long there is murder ­ as there always is ­ and Benny is accused. Who might possibly be setting her up for a fall? Could it be The Player, a mysterious figure of rhyme and chaos? And why is everybody so obsessed with his plays?

Benny may find that her only way out of this prison is to play along with the fiction. But is there someone behind the scenes manipulating her strings? Could she end up a mere ‘costume' in someone's disturbing game of dress-ups? After all her adventures, could this be the final episode?

◆ Prof. Bernice Summerfield

Experimental scripts often allow our regulars to showcase their true range as performers, and ‘The Masquerade of Death’ is no exception. Lisa Bowerman put on a spectacular show here!

Benny is described by the Player as being an “older than we thought” woman, one who possesses the interesting trait of having an extremely varied character. She does not seem to age, nor have a future beyond the current moment. It’s as though she is a puppet, taken out of the box for a new adventure; a fictional element used for people to construct adventures through her (loving this breakage of the fourth wall). Benny thinks she could get used to the Spinster’s prison; fancy masquerade balls, leisure time galore, and free drinks… with a bit of spring cleaning, it could be paradise. According to Adrian, she is rather talented at discovering plots, clues and murderer identity’s. She is Bernice of the Summerfield; a lady of myriad time!

◆ Adrian Wall

It’s been far too long since I bombarded Harry Myers with praise, and he really deserves it in this episode. ‘The Masquerade of Death’ gives him something very different to chew on – hahaha, because he’s playing a dog – allowing him to show off his wide range of acting skills.

Adrian claims he’ll protect Benny, even in her dreams. He’s far from happy with the Queen of Spring referring to him as the “canine consort”. Ever the engineer, he starts boasting about how, if he built the Palace of Spring… it wouldn’t be a crumbling mess. The Spinster clearly cares about her prisoners, and is clearly looking for reassurance in this troublesome time – shame that she’s talking to a Killoran that likes to be as blunt as possible. Adrian is not to be caged, as he gets very angry when he is, and might just become a disruptive element. He claims to still love Benny, and is scoffed at by the Spinster, who asks whoever heard of a woman having a dog for a lover. When the Player decides to rewrite the story, in the realm of Summer, Adrian gets turned into a growling King… keen to brand the father of his child as a murderer! In the next rewrite, Adrian is turned into a polite and posh courts-man who talks like Stephen Fry! Adrian is really turning into a proper hero figure, and I couldn’t be more happy.

◆ Story Recap

Benny and Adrian are visiting the Spinster’s Prison, but neither of them seem to know how they arrived, or how they can get out. It’s exactly a thousand square feet in area, and being used to incarcerate one person – the Queen of Spring. Imprisoned in the season of her title, with nearly everything that she desired, she is waiting for the arrival of a stranger known only as the Player.

The Player is a wily devil: a famous playwright who has the power to traverse between the seasons using 101 raindrops… but who is really a form of virus, originating from an artefact discovered by Benny. Our lady of myriad time soon finds herself investigating a murder in the Palace of Spring, by using the immersive records kept in the story book.

Meanwhile, her canine consort attempts to find a way out of this theatrical prison… but the play is the thing, and the Player of All Seasons wants to rip off Benny’s face!

◆ Spring Has Sprung

I have a real respect for writers willing to go the extra mile by delving into more experimental territory, and that’s exactly what Stewart Sheargold did here.

The concepts of the Spinster and her prison are absolutely marvellous – a thousand square feet in area, and containing four different cells to incarcerate people in… all based around the seasons of the year. We spend most of this adventure in the season of Spring, getting to learn how the technology works via the murder investigation.

The Spinster has a storybook where she writes down the day’s events, and can be used like a simulation to go back and see the previous days (you cannot interfere in these events, and it’s best to think of it as more of an editing programme than time travel).

◆ Wordplay

I’d also like to talk about the main villain of this piece, a living virus that calls itself the Player. He’s a slippery customer and make no mistake, one that sounds a bit like Norton Folgate!

I love the way he speaks like a man from the theatre, narrating his exploits and theatrical games – one scene comes directly to mind, where the Player and Benny have engaged in a battle of words, whilst also having a sword fight! I also adore that Benny defeats the Player by making sure he is utterly and thoroughly illiterate. That’s so cool.

◆ Sound Design

Jane Elphinstone has created several polished theatrical soundscapes for this adventure, so it saddens me that she never worked on another release after this.

Heavy rain and a ticking grandfather clock. A royal fanfare is played inside the Spinster’s prison, before the roof decides to cave in. The tick-tock of clockwork guards. Bustling crowds at the Queen of Spring’s party; guests cheering at her very entrance. Time rewinds as the storybook goes backwards in time. When Adrian walks into the barrier between seasons, it sounds like the echo you would hear if someone hit a hollow piece of metal. A chandelier comes down from the ceiling and crushes Adrian to a pulp!

◆ Music

Elphinstone’s score is gorgeously theatrical, as it should be. It also showcases some expert use of the piano, and a lute-like string instrument (it really is criminal that she never got to work on the ‘Bernice Summerfield’ range again).

◆ Conclusion

“Once upon a time, there was a plucky adventuress!”

‘The Masquerade of Death’ is a script I was sure I’d enjoy, but even I didn’t anticipate it becoming one of my favourite adventures from this range. I really appreciate a writer going the extra mile and doing something a bit more experimental, and this is the second time where Sheargold has done exactly that.

Welcome to the wonderful world of theatre, as portrayed by a lady of myriad time, and her canine consort! It doesn’t surprise me that this episode has mixed reviews, more experimental stories often do, but this has got to be my favourite script from Sheargold (sorry ‘Red’, your crown has been well-and-truly thieved from you). What an exceptional way to conclude the fifth series of ‘Bernice Summerfield’.