Bespoke Mysteries for Belmond

24-Hours of Mystery onboard The Venice Simplon Orient Express. Concept, Written & Directed by Neil Kelso. Production was by by Gr8 Events and PDE for VSOE and Belmond. This Photograph taken by The Other Richard. Cast from Left to Right: Neil Kelso, Josh Sneesby, Betsy Rose, Michael Twaits, Ulrike Storch, Emma Hook, Richard Lakes, Missy Fatale, Jolie Papillon, Darren Charles and Richard Vranch onboard the Venice Simplon Orient Express, a Belmond Train.

The Beginning

It all started when a forthcoming party onboard The Venice Simplon Orient Express needed something extra special. For the 40 guests travelling from Paris to Venice, the client needed sophisticated entertainment that would thrill and engage the audience whilst keeping the VSOE brand and its amazing history front-and-centre. The event companies didn't know where to begin with envisaging and delivering such an intricate production, so called in Neil Kelso.

Planning, writing, directing, and performing in a 24-hour Murder Mystery experience takes a very unique skillset, so a member of The Magic Circle and Mensa who is also a published author of books and plays as well as a seasoned cabaret professional was the right choice.

The VSOE Solution

Concept: Neil Kelso loves researching and identified a trip to the inaugural Venice Film Festival as the perfect setting for an immersive experience - it shines a spotlight on the VSOE's history, gets the audience excited for their destination, and makes beautiful memories along the way.

The Strategy:

1. Start the story on the platform before the train even arrives, so the audience are already hooked. Build a compelling and beautiful story that the audience want to explore. Commit to every detail.

2. Create interactive individual storytelling moments that invite the audience to participate at the level they are comfortable with - from the shy armchair puzzlers to the excitable aspiring sleuths. The cast of multi-skilled performers were equipped with a story that can pivot and adapt. Neil wrote puzzles in a magazine, personalised beautiful mechanical puzzle boxes that could only be opened with a clue, codes and ciphers for the most puzzle-minded guests, props and details hidden around the train to be discovered by the most inquisitive, and countless details that fill the journey with world-building treats for those who want a personalised adventure.

3. Give collective moments that everyone experiences together. At midnight when everyone is singing along in the bar car, the lights go out and come back on again. The chanteuse has vanished. As have some priceless jewels. The party continues into the wee small hours, but when you awaken in the morning, a letter has been slipped under your cabin door, inviting you to help investigate the disappearances and solve the mysteries.

4. A satisfying denouement. It's only a satisfying murder mystery if all the loose ends tie up into one thrilling fireworks ride at the very end. The pace of plot twists has been gradually increasing as we've travelled through the lakes and mountains. Will you catch the criminal before it's too late?

5. Bringing it all full-circle: When we arrived in Venice, there were even additional easter eggs waiting for our audience - a key plot detail was about the timing of the full moon. That night in Venice, the moon was indeed full. Nobody will forget that adventure.

Writing & Directing Excellence

Neil Kelso brings attention to detail in research that is fuelled by passion for the audience to discover a world that is endlessly rich and invites them to explore, rewarding them for asking questions because the answers they find are so beautifully designed.

An immersive murder mystery must be built upon a perfect matrix of facts, so that there truly is only one solution, and to be accessible, there must also be multiple routes to solve the mystery. It's no good if only the mathematically-minded folks can solve it; those wanting to interrogate the psychology of each character must have an equally beautiful experience.

It just so happens that Neil Kelso's background in conjuring (he is a member of the world-famous Magic Circle), his unusual brain (he has one of the highest recorded IQs in the world and is a member of Mensa), and his years as a circus, cabaret and theatre performer position him well to build intricate and rewarding Murder Mystery experiences. His qualifications in International Management mean his artistic practice is also a professional practice that assures the same consistently high level of quality that world-leading organisations require. Being bilingual English/French also helps him work with cast, crew, and creatives on both sides of the channel.

Result

Every detail was perfect, and timed to perfection. The audience were thrilled and the client was over the moon.

Such was its success that the VSOE's sister train, the famous British Pullman, reached out and asked whether something similarly artistic and meticulously constructed could be created bespoke for guests travelling through the English countryside.

And so DEAD ON TIME was born.

DEAD ON TIME

Dead on Time is Conceived, Written and Directed by Neil Kelso. It was produced for British Pullman, a Belmond Train. The cast shown here from left-to-right are: Matthew Coulton, Eden Dominique, Chloe Walshe, Dennis Herdman, Barbara D'Alterio, Shamira Turner, Ramône Dale-Cruickshank, Danielle Meehan, Tim O'Hara, Darren Charles and other cast not shown Liberty Scott, Paul Aitchison. Photography by The Other Richard onboard The British Pullman, a Belmond Train.

"One train. Five courses. Ten suspects."

Instead of a 24-hour mystery, this one would happen over five hours as The British Pullman travels from Victoria, out to Margate and Canterbury, and through the Kent countryside before returning to Victoria station.

Neil Kelso put on his research hat and delved into the history of The British Pullman. One particularly compelling chapter in the train's history was 1951, when the carriages had been restored and were running a twice-daily service to and from the Festival of Britain. This moment in time was not only a wonderful moment in the train's history, but a fascinating chapter in British history: London rebuilding post-WWII and pre-Cold War, whilst still under rationing, but hopeful for the future that new technologies and fashions were bringing. A special kind of optimism - "a tonic for the nation" - was the Festival of Britain. A vivacious, colourful, optimistic time.

This optimism felt like an artistically compelling parallel for 2023 where audiences are still rediscovering the world post-lockdown, and wars are in the news, but there are also hopeful technological and ecological innovations on the horizon. Plus the scandal of the Stone of Scone was a great story from 1950-1951 which would likely make the news again in King Charles' forthcoming coronation. So plenty of tie-ins that make 1951 a lovely world to explore. By avoiding the more 1920s-1930s clichés, it also allowed exploration of an era of vintage fashion that is not currently overdone.

The "Dead on Time" Concept

The year is 1951. With ten carriages on The British Pullman, having a story that reaches everyone, but which is also personalised to you, and which provides all the thrills and adventure of a Murder Mystery was a wonderful challenge.

Neil Kelso planned an intricate matrix of scripts so the same story was unfolding in real time in ten locations from ten different perspectives. Depending on where you are sitting, you will meet different suspects and victims at different moments of the same day.

It was a hugely ambitious challenge, but Neil Kelso pulled all the requirements together and conceived, wrote, and directed another critically-acclaimed Murder Mystery show for the Belmond organisation. Dead on Time was shortlisted for a global award "Best Immersive Show of the Year" by BroadwayWorld, and was featured in dozens of national and international newspapers with rave reviews.

Production Excellence

The production included a magazine called "The Luxury Locomotives Magazine" which is a fictional publication from 1951 and which conveniently contains lots of useful information that can help keen puzzlers unlock additional clues or delve deeper into the world. Neil Kelso wrote articles, puzzles, designed a map and tour routes and cryptic puzzles that are all completely justified within the story of the world, so you can play endlessly without finding cracks in the logic or plot holes that will snap you out of the world.

The movement of the characters around the train was also planned to ensure the minimum amount of wasted travel, zero interruption of the serving of the delicious five-course meal, and always ending the story Dead on Time just before The British Pullman pulls into Victoria Station.

The biggest magical trick of the whole production was that each of the ten characters was also based upon the unique history of each of the British Pullman carriages. If guests interrogate Julie Ibis, they'll also be learning about the real history of carriage Ibis (famous people she knows, important years in her life, places she's been), and they might not even realise it until their steward points it out! So even though it is a fictional experience, the audience are constantly remaining in conversation with The British Pullman, which always was, and always will be, the star of the show.

Legacy

Few other productions onboard trains or in such specific luxury venues have achieved this level of quality in terms of storytelling, precision of strategy, or consistently high-calibre guest experience. Dead on Time has run for two successful years onboard the Belmond British Pullman to critical acclaim.

Neil Kelso's ongoing partnership with British Pullman has included several other magical, musical, and storytelling experiences such as New Year's Eve cabaret performances on the train, and close-up magic performances during Christmas journeys.