Guildford Shakespeare Company's immersive murder mystery runs at Hogs Back Brewery, Tongham, 24 October to 15 November. Tickets £35, children £18.50.

Guildford Shakespeare Company’s next murder mystery, A Brew to a Kill, runs at Hogs Back Brewery in Tongham from 24 October to 15 November. It is the third instalment in the company’s murder mystery series, and this one is written for the brewery: the audience moves around the building in groups, interrogating suspects to work out whodunnit.

The story is set in 1954, on the day the brewery reopens with a new brew and a new Tap Room. A murder gets in the way of the ribbon-cutting. GSC’s production page says the plot follows “the machinations and betrayals of the Gloucester brewing family”, siblings Edwina, George and Richard, plus a mob boss and a rival brewery circling with a takeover bid. The company says it drew on Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses plays for the family at the centre of it.

The show is devised by GSC and written by Eli Murton, with GSC co-founder Matt Pinches directing.

Dates, times and tickets

Booking is open now through GSC’s box office. The run has 33 performances across the four weeks:

  • Tuesdays and Wednesdays: 6pm and 8.30pm
  • Thursdays and Fridays: 7.30pm
  • Saturdays: 4.30pm and 7.30pm
  • Sundays: 3.30pm and 6pm

Tickets are £35, or £18.50 for children, and the box office marks all tickets non-refundable. The production page gives a running time of about 80 minutes, still to be confirmed, and an age guidance of 8 and over. An audio described performance is set for Saturday 14 November at 4.30pm.

Performances are small by design: the box office listing for opening night shows a capacity of 78, and more than a quarter of those places had already gone when we checked on 7 September.

What it means for you

This is a promenade show in a working brewery on The Street in Tongham (GU10 1DE), about six miles west of Guildford, not a sit-down theatre night in town. Expect to be on your feet and moving between rooms for the length of the show. The 8+ guidance and £18.50 child price make it one of the few murder mysteries pitched at families rather than office parties.

If you want a specific date, especially a weekend, booking early is the practical advice; with 78 places a night, popular dates will close out well before the run starts. Book through GSC’s production page.

For more ideas across the autumn, our things to do in Guildford page keeps the season’s events in one place.