Delphine Marchetti
Was promised top billing and has been promised many other things.
A modernist villa rented for the summer
The Côte d'Azur Affair
A villa, a film star, and a script with one scene too many.
The producer has gathered his leading lady, his writer and his money at a villa above the bay. The new script is a masterpiece, the financing is not, and by the time the sun goes down the studio's auditor is dead in the pool house with a page of dialogue in his hand.
Players10–16
Evening3 hours
HostingIntermediate
Written forAdults, 16+
The story
The Côte d'Azur Affair plays in three acts with a dinner break the script plans for. Times below assume a 7pm start; every kit includes a version for a later table.
Act I7:30 pm
The Read-Through
Guests are handed scenes and asked to read. A very public argument about the ending sets everyone into the garden for a cigarette and a secret.
Act II8:20 pm
The Pool House
The producer is found in the pool house. Three pages of the script have been switched, and the camera nobody mentions is missing a reel.
Act III9:30 pm
The Final Cut
The host screens the accusation round over dessert, then shows the reel that settles it.
The cast
Six to 16 roles are written; the kit scales down by folding the smallest parts into the host. Each character arrives with a public face and a private problem.
Arthur Getz
Borrows money from people who enjoy collecting.
Bunny Lowell
Wrote the ending, then rewrote it for everyone in the room.
Nadine Perrin
Types every contract and remembers every omission.
Clues & evidence
Four of the nine clues
- A script page numbered out of order
- A studio contract with a clause cut out
- A hotel key from the far end of the bay
- A reel of silent film showing the villa at night
Props unique to this kit
- A clapperboard with the wrong film title
- A stack of telegrams from the studio in Rome
- A sunglasses case holding a pawnbroker's slip