And Then There Were None (The Play) by Agatha Christie

And Then There Were None

Review of the play And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.

Performed by the Agatha Christie Theatre Company

Venue: Theatre Royal, Windsor, Berkshire UK

Date: Tuesday 13^th January – First-night performance.

This is one of Agatha Christie’s most famous stories, and it is having a strong revival in 2015, Christie’s 125^th year.

The story line is as follows:

“A group of 10 strangers are lured to a remote island off the coast of Devon. Upon arrival it is discovered that their host, an eccentric millionaire, is missing… Stranded on the island by a torrential storm and haunted by an ancient nursery rhyme, one by one the guests begin to die… With only the fallen believed to be innocent who amongst them is the killer.” ©BKL Productions

Until now I had not seen the play performed. It must be difficult to act out a novel where the action takes place in various locations on an island, but on the stage it takes place in one room. Remembering that this was a first-night performance, I anticipated that it was possible for things to go wrong.

The play has three acts, however, Act II and III are split into two scenes. The setting for the play is the living-room of the only house on the island. The walls have a dark panelling, so the audience looks into ‘a brown box’; the rear of the stage has French Doors that are hidden as necessary, (with brown panels, moved by the actors). There are no actual doors to other areas of the house, instead, four arches led off stage, two left and two right.

At the end of each Act and scenes curtains are lowered and house lights switched on, which was confusing for the audience - the first time some got up and started to leave the auditorium thinking it was the interval.

Crucial to the intensity of the play is the rhyme of the Ten Little Soldiers and the accompanying little statues that get broken as each character in the story dies. On the stage the audience is able to observe the ten china soldiers lined up on the mantelpiece above the fireplace on the left of the stage. So, those of us that knew the story were observing any movement of the statues, and in this performance the removal of them could have been better. Emily Brent picked up the first one and declared it broken, but before she picked it up it was in one piece! Two more were removed in between the end of the Act I and start of Act II, unobserved by the audience. A further two were placed under Lombard’s coat as he left the stage, leaving it for someone to say, “Oh look that leaves five”. The final four remained on the mantelpiece for the remainder of the performance. You have got to wonder if there might have been a better way to manage the removal of the statues when one of the characters are killed off.

When I go to see a play at the theatre, I want to be taken to the place of action, but sometimes I’m left disappointed and in this case I was not convinced I was in the home of a millionaire and on an island. The play started well with the guests arriving one by one at the house. The stage is well used with chairs and tables arranged to meet the needs of the actors – drinks, newspaper. At the start of Act II Scene 2, Lombard enters the stage from the French Doors having returned from a walk around the island in the storm, shaking his hat and coat, but his hat and coat was as dry as a bone! What else could go wrong?

In the final moments, there are just two characters alive on the island and Vera takes Lombard to task about his involvement in the death of the guests, snatching his gun and eventually shooting him. However, the sound of the gun was so off stage it lost its effect – a little item that needs to be reviewed!

The big question that all Christie fans want to know, is how did the play end? The ending in the book was altered for the film version, because it was felt that the film going audience would want a pleasant ending, and the stage plays have a choice of which ending to use, in this performance the director has opted to have all the characters die, so the curtain closes with Vera about to do the right thing.

The cast of actors are well known to regular theatre-goers: [Cast of actors: Paul Nicholas, Colin Buchanan, Susan Penhaligon, Mark Curry, Verity Rushworth, Frazer Hinds, Ben Nealon.] The two younger actors playing the parts of Lombard and Vera [Verity, and Ben] presented themselves well, assisted by the costumes used to help develop their character. Most striking was the stunning “1920’s” backless dress worn by Vera. It went so low down her back that you could see her ‘white silk underwear’. Very stunning, but for the wrong reasons; someone must have seen it off stage! Was this the first dress rehearsal?

Finally, when it came to the closing the curtains at the end of the play, the actors took a bow, one by one, and the audience were expected to applaud each individual as they stood up and bowed, and this took simply ages – my hands actually hurt applauding for so long.

As a play I thought it was great, great actors, great entertainment, a must see for Agatha Christie fans. Rating: 5 stars

Dr James Sheppard

3 March 2015