Killing time at a top Interlaken Hotel
Murder is proving a profitable business for one of Interlaken’s top hotels where paying guests get to act out bloody deeds.
Thanks to its murder mystery weekends, the five-star Hotel Beau Rivage is now fully booked during what would otherwise be a quiet winter period .
Arriving on Friday night, the guests – normally numbering around 80 – are expected to throw themselves into their roles straightaway.
The plot – which this year centres around a security fair – unfolds like a play, with suspicious goings-on and the odd body turning up.
Planted among the players are 18 actors, who at first are indistinguishable from the guests, but emerge sooner or later as murderers or their victims.
To help get into character, guests exhibit security products ranging from portable toilets to cans of pretend nerve gas, before being treated to a five-course dinner.
They also get the chance to have a go at safe-cracking and trying to steal a diamond protected behind a laser security wall.
Murderous business
Before long, a killer strikes. The police spring into action, interviewing witnesses and investigating clues. Statements are pinned up on the police notice board, giving players the opportunity to unravel the case.
Computer scientist Calla Flückiger and her husband Marcus have been to six murder mystery weekends so far and admit to being hooked.
The two super sleuths crack most of the cases, but, as Calla explains, proper detective work is required.
“You have to run around the hotel, looking for clues. You have to ask the right people the right questions – it’s hard work but great fun.”
There is a new theme every season, with the principal roles played mostly by former guests.
Killer script
The team leader is the folk singer/songwriter/author/board game inventor, Urs Hostettler, who writes the murder mystery weekend scripts.
The main scenes are rehearsed before the game gets underway, but Hostettler says the team has to be prepared to adapt, improvise, and throw in a few red herrings if necessary.
Ruxandra Domenig, a murder weekend novice, says she found it hard to settle into her role at first.
“In the beginning I kept laughing at the actors, but then I started getting involved. You have to work at it – think about the details.”
Previous murder weekends have been based around themes including a television talk show, a book fair, an inventors’ fair and a Jack the Ripper-style murder series.
Most of the dramas are staged in German, but Hostettler says he is willing to provide English versions if there is enough demand.
Change of venue
The event used to be held at the Park Hotel du Sauvage in Meiringen. But when the director left, a new venue was needed.
Oliver Stoldt, the general manager of the Lindner Grand Hotel Beau Rivage, was only too happy to offer his own premises.
“Our company slogan is not just to be better, but also to be different. Having a theatre in a five-star Swiss hotel is really different.”
The murder mystery weekends continue at the Beau Rivage through to the end of May 2004. Then there’s a summer break, during which the Fata Morgana team cook up a brand new script full of twists, turns and dastardly deeds.
swissinfo, Julie Hunt in Interlaken
The cost is around SFr500 ($390) per person and includes two nights’ accommodation, two four-course dinners and breakfast.
The murder mystery weekends continue at the Beau Rivage through to the end of May 2004.
The events are meticulously scripted and choreographed by the organisers, Fata Morgana.
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