These evenings might be more costly to purchase a script for (though we do have a free game “Fete Accompli” available for fundraisers), but these games are extremely flexible for venue and are very easy to run by total novices who have an ability to learn a speech.
Our best suggestion here, rather than hiring a venue, is to run an evening on a smaller scale by utlilising your own home, a guest-house or other community venue e.g. a church linked-house, community centre or school. (Fete Accompli can even be run on a field with standard fundraising stalls!)
As these style of events don’t need a formal sit down dinner, you can improvise on the food. Running bring and share buffets, hosting a take away dinner, cheese and wine night, or just nibbles. Or depending on the night – no meal at all!
These games are more Cluedo style than typical dinner theatre and rely on guests visiting different rooms during the evening, interrogating suspects and locating physcial prop clues e.g. knives, frying pans, poisons, guns etc. As well as visiting a crime scene.
They are extremely popular events, and although very time consuming preparation for the host, there are no rehearsals required for the actors which makes them easy to arrange. Some actors even do them “script in hand”.