Providence House
Peasenhall · Suffolk · 1902
“A note somebody wrote, and nobody will claim.”
- Players
- 6 to 12 adults, plus the host
- At its best
- 6 to 9 guests
- Runs
- 2 to 3 hours with dinner
- Setting
- Peasenhall, Suffolk, 1902
- History
- Real case: The Peasenhall murder
- Suits
- Clever, note-taking tables. Twisty
- Best for
- Dinner parties
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Acting
- None needed. Short lines to read where the story needs them
- You need
- A TV or laptop, and a phone each
- Delivery
- Instant access. Printable pack included
- The host
- Plays the victim, then runs the inquiry
- Price
- A$39, one payment
- Content
- Real people are portrayed. Involves the death of a young, pregnant servant and a secret affair. The killer is invented; every real person is innocent.
Peasenhall goes to chapel, and Peasenhall goes home, and in between it keeps a close and kindly eye on itself. On the night in question there is a storm over the village, loud enough to cover almost anything. By morning a young woman who worked at Providence House is dead, and there is a note in the house that somebody wrote and that nobody will own. The village has already decided what it thinks. The village is generally the last to change its mind.
That is as much as the file will give you. The rest arrives one piece at a time, and the handwriting is only the first thing your table will argue about.
What you get
Fully scripted evening
Every act cued, every scene set, your lines where you need them. No prep, no printing, no experience required.
Clues arrive in stages
Evidence and private dossiers drop to your guests' phones as the night unfolds, one act at a time.
You play the victim
Set the table, welcome your guests, then haunt the evening while they work out who wanted you gone.
6 to 12 players
A core cast carries the case, with flexible roles as your table grows. Latecomers can join as observers.
App-hosted
The case runs from any screen in the room. Your TV is the stage, the phones are the wings.
Rose Harsent, a young servant, was found dead at Providence House in the Suffolk village of Peasenhall in June 1902. A man from the village stood trial twice. Both juries failed to agree, he was released, and the case has never been resolved.
The game reopens the case and reaches a solution of its own. Knowing the history will not spoil your night, and history does not decide the verdict at your table. Your guests do.
These were real people and real deaths. The file is written with that in mind: we reopen the questions, not the graves.
Take it to trial.
This case can end at the reveal, or it can go to trial: the person your table accused stands in the dock, your guests become the jury, and nobody learns who really did it until the verdict is in. The trial is invented: an alternative ending, clearly labelled as one, and not the historical record.
The trial for Providence House is coming soon. Trials are released case by case, starting with The Masque at Carfax Hall. When it arrives, the trial can also be played on its own, as a jury case.
Reopen Providence House.
Host it at your own table. Nothing to print, no script to learn, and you play the victim, so you finally get to attend your own party.