The Pleasures of Fanny – A Murder Mystery Musical is heading to Brick Lane Music Hall this autumn for a short run from 2nd – 6th October 2026, bringing together musical comedy, farce, murder mystery and audience participation in a tongue-in-cheek show written by Shannon Rewcroft and Jack Pallister.
Part musical comedy, part whodunnit and full music hall, The Pleasures of Fanny plays with the familiar conventions of the murder mystery, with a show-within-a-show that draws the audience into a murder investigation that they themselves must help solve from their seats.
Performances are accompanied by a choice of afternoon tea, three-course lunch or three-course dinner. Audiences are also invited to embrace the show's 1940s setting, with period dress (although this is entirely optional) and prizes available for the best dressed.
At the centre of the evening are the fictional ‘Silvertown Lovies Amateur Group’ – affectionately known as The SLAGs – performing their latest musical, The Pleasures of Fanny. Inspired by John Cleland’s infamous 18th-century novel Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, the musical follows a young woman arriving in London to seek her fortune.
As the SLAGs’ performance unfolds, the drama spills beyond the stage when a sinister killing is uncovered, leaving the amateur performers shaken to their very bones – and plunging them into a murder investigation.
After the interval, a second murder forces the theatre into lockdown, as the boundary between stage and auditorium blurs, it’s time for the audience to channel their inner Sherlock Holmes, Poirot or Miss Marple and help the performers in the hunt for the killer.
Each table forms its own detective squad, piecing together the suspects’ motives, movements and whereabouts, trading theories and weighing the evidence before submitting its verdict. Once every accusation is locked in, the murderer is revealed.
With all the silliness, farce and joyful theatricality of music hall, The Pleasures of Fanny also nods to the traditions of pantomime, wrapped around a murder mystery for the audience to solve.
The production forms part of Brick Lane Music Hall's eclectic autumn season, which includes much-loved returning shows, new productions and partnerships and sees the venue introduce Sunday performances for the first time.
Lucy Hayes, Executive Director of Brick Lane Music Hall, said:
“The Pleasures of Fanny” has everything we love about music hall – great songs, larger-than-life characters, plenty of silliness and a real sense of occasion – but with the added twist of a murder mystery that puts the audience right at the heart of the action.
We want people to come along, enjoy a fantastic meal and a really entertaining show, and then suddenly find themselves having to work out who might be a murderer. It’s enormous fun, whether you’re a seasoned detective or completely hopeless at spotting whodunnit.”
Zara Kattan, Artistic Director of Brick Lane Music Hall, added:
“Music hall has always been about bringing people together for a really good night out, and that’s what we want Brick Lane Music Hall to be today. We’re introducing Sunday performances for the first time and we really want people who perhaps haven’t thought that music hall was for them before to come through the doors and discover that it absolutely can be.”
The Pleasures of Fanny cast includes Shannon Rewcroft, Ross Tomlinson, Lucy Reed, Andrew Robley, Vincent Hayes, Jack Pallister and Anabelle Fage.