February 27 and 28, and March 1 -- returns at the end of March and in April.

One complaint about the latest offering from the Jabulani team is that it really should have been in black-and-white.

For the cast captures perfectly the simmering passions behind the net curtains of straitlaced 1950s English suburbia and the monochrome cinema and television of the day.

Frederick Knott's classic play -- regarded as ground-breaking in its day and this time around directed by Gavin Wilson -- took mystery theatre one step on from the traditional whodunnit.

We all know whodunnit -- or almost dunnit -- but the trick lies in trapping the guilty party and avoiding a major miscarriage of justice.

Ken Morgan, who plays Tony Wendice, captures the oleaginous, ageing, spoilt playboy and has-been darling of the international tennis circuit, now dependent on his wealthy wife to keep him in the style to which he has become accustomed.

But he decides he'd live in even higher style if wife Margot (Julia Snelling) was out of the picture altogether.

And he recruits a seedy conman from his college days, a cashiered Army officer currently using the name Captain Lestgate, played by Ian Birch, in a plot to carry out the perfect murder.

Murder is indeed duly done -- but Tony ends up without the corpse he expected.

Ms Snelling is splendid as a porcelain pretty but slightly brittle middle-class English rose -- who keeps the secret of her affair with New York-based TV thriller writer Max Halliday (Jens Hansen) even after he reappears in her life a year after they met.

But Tony knows about their fling because he's rifled his wife's handbag and discovered an incriminating letter from Max.

And even though the affair has ended and Margot has resolved to make a go of her marriage, he decides he can't risk losing her. Not to another man, anyway.

The end result is a dark tale of blackmail, intrigue, death and a host of secrets just waiting to be connected up.

And Detective Inspector Hubbard (Steve Parkinson) cranks up the suspense from the moment he comes on-stage.

His is a superbly believable portrait of a slightly stodgy copper -- hardly surprising considering he's on something of a busman's holiday from his day job with Bermuda's real-life boys in blue.

But his laconic, plodding style is carefully designed to lull everyone into a false sense of security and conceals a razor-sharp investigative mind. And the role, apparently, spawned a new generation of fictional detectives, including the shambling and scruffy Columbo.

It would be unfair to give away too much of the plot -- but Ms Snelling, it must be said, radiates the baffled innocence and naivete of a nice, well brought up girl who becomes trapped in a living nightmare.

And there are clear echoes of Grace Kelly, another innocent abroad who made the role famous in Alfred Hitchcock's film version of the play.

But a combination of the gifted professional detective and the over-enthusiastic amateur Max creates yet another twist in the tale and finds the key to this taut psychological thriller.

As a piece of theatrical history, even the rather formal and stilted interpersonal relationships and dialogue of the day catches the atmosphere of an age when murder was a viable alternative to divorce.

It's sure to appeal to visitors as a slice of England as rich and fruity as a chunk of Cumberland cake. And for anyone who remembers the classic 50s and 60s TV serials presented by Hitchcock, Edgar Lustgarten et al, it's a nostalgic trip down memory lane when death always dressed for dinner.

RAYMOND HAINEY MORGAN'S POINT -- Ken Morgan who captures greasy playboy Tony Wendice perfectly in the Jabulani Repertory Theatre's performance of "Dial `M' for Murder'' at the Princess Hotel over the weekend. It returns at the end of this month.