A Queer Little Murder (Qtopia)

Written by Savannah Hankinson. Pride Fest. Qtopia Loading Dock. 15-18 Jun 2026.

Writer/performer Savannah Hankinson imagines a manor house murder mystery of a particularly sapphic sort in A Queer Little Murder, a new work-in-progress playing as part of Pride Fest.

Try Hard, a newly single, soft-masc lesbian from New York has planned a getaway to the queer enclave Rosebush Island, to help get over her ex – and hopefully get laid. When she checks in at her glamorous, and oddly inexpensive rental, she finds herself accidentally in an exclusive power-lesbian mansion with a horny nun, an aloof Ukranian model, their Grand Dame of a host, and her mousy assistant… oh, and her own Ex! When the lights go out, and one of them ends up murdered – Try Hard puts her depressed-binge-watching-of-murder-mysteries to good use and sets out to solve the mystery.

Hankinson shows a good talent for voices and physicality as she inhabits all six characters of the story with some canny accents, a few props and a lot of gusto. As she narrates for the full sixty minute running time, the stories visuals are clear and the characters are sharp. And most importantly, the jokes land – this is a comedy after all.

The very silly adventure runs headfirst into obvious lesbian cliches with abandon, bringing just enough specificity to feel authentic, but not so deep as to exclude those not in the community. It’s clear the show has good bones it can work on to elevate and expand its storytelling and heighten its humour.

This doesn’t feel like A Queer Little Murder’s final form, but it’s already entertaining and well on its way to something even bigger (and sillier).