ABOVE:
Largest seating layout with
147 guests. We recommend no larger than about 175 guests in order to ensure the
intimacy of the mystery play. However, larger groups are possible with a few
upgrades. Click on this link
("Party Tips")
or gog to home page and click on the Party Tips button.
Photos
that illustrate "Good" and "Bad"
Banquet Seating
Bad photos listed first, GOOD photos at bottom!
BELOW=BAD:
Here is a BAD EXAMPLE of banquet seating that
is WAY TOO TIGHT!! In the first photo of cream white linens, there are
several problems:
1)
Actor's won't be able to move,
2) Waiters will be bumping into
the backs of guests heads and chairs throughout dinner,
3)
Guests will get claustrophobic much
sooner, and,
4)
There is no room to take notes on
6" X 9" detective reports.
BELOW ARE BAD EXAMPLES:
The red chair setups below are how MANY
banquet rooms set their tables. See how crowded and uncomfortable the
guests will be? They can't even get in or out of their chairs without
making guests on either side have to move their chairs, knees and legs.
There is no room between place settings, and no 6" space between
place settings to take notes on their 6" X 9" detective reports.
The third photo
(center below) shows a bar setup
eating up space dead center in
the room. This is fine for regular functions, but it is WRONG for a murder mystery dinner!
The bar
should be at one end of the room or the other. Your guests need to all
feel like they are part of the same group and they should not be split
up by a
bar or a dance floor. If your guests are separated, group psychology
takes over: one side of the room feels left out of the
action and so guests begin gabbing. This will distract
the rest of the audience and interfere with the actors' show.
BELOW
LEFT:
Bad Table and chair
setups for mystery shows. The 4-top tables stretched out into
a long row along the windows alienate the guests. Actors will be hard to see and hear.
RIGHT:
Conference tables don't work because all you see is the ear of the
person on your right or left side; not the actor who is speaking 6 chairs
away from you on your side of the table!
BELOW LEFT: Avoid
using Tall Top cocktail tables or rectangle tables for Mystery
dinners. Tall tops seat the guests too high in the room. You can only
fit 2 or 3 place settings per table. Also, the guests and actors who
stand to speak are all on the same plane and your guests can't see
through all the heads!
RIGHT: Rectangle banquet tables block the
view of guests trying to look left or right at the actors seated on the
same side of the table they are at. Rectangle tables mean that all your
guests will be looking at the ears of their neighbor sitting on either
side of them.
(See
"Party Tips").
ABOVE: Dance
floor divides entire room in half and alienates guests from
feeling like they are all part of a Murder Mystery Dinner. See more
explanation
about why this is a bad setup at the very top of this page (Golden
Rules).
BELOW:
GOOD EXAMPLES of banquet seating that is
comfortable for a murder mystery dinner setting.
ABOVE:
Outstanding room setup for Murder Mystery show!! Only flaw: gaudy
flower centerpieces will block the view of actor's faces at certain times
during the play.
ABOVE:
Good location
for DANCE FLOOR at the
end of the room, instead of splitting tables in half.
ABOVE:
Note the space between place settings. These four tables give
all the guests comfortable viewing angles and room to relax.
ABOVE:
The seating
and table layout is good, although the ceiling lighting was actually
brighter and more functional during the Mystery Play so that all the
guests could see the actor's faces as well as be able to see the notes on
detective reports they were writing. This photo was taken after the room
lights were dimmed for a Live Variety Act that performed after the mystery
play ended.
ABOVE:
Both table and
chair setups here are passable for a murder mystery dinner party. When rectangle tables
are THE ONLY CHOICE for 30 or less guests, then the
inside chairs closest to the middle aisle can be more sparsely spread out.
This way, people won't have to keep turning 180 degrees to
see behind them. Photo on right side is a perfect setting
for a small party of 40 or less guests.
