Tag Archives: Agatha Christie

Cards on the Table – TOADS Theatre Company

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There’s no point pretending the Jolly Lion likes Agatha Christie. Like TV adaptations, they are a major source of irritant that I would prefer stayed in the privacy of people’s home for the most part. But, there are stories that have transferred to the stage quite nicely, and Cards on the Table is a passable yarn, dramatised by Leslie Darbon and directed by Alec Stokes for the TOADS Theatre Company. The production runs from 10 to 22 September 2012 and forms one of the many attractions in Torquay’s Agatha Christie season.

The play opens with a gathering in the home of Mr Shiatana, played by Roy Winbow, an exotic host with some odd collections. He collects killers, much to the amusement of crime writer and guest Mrs Oliver, played by Jill Pettigrew, who steps in as amateur sleuth for the evening, in a story that benefits from Poirot being cut.


The staging of this opening scene caused some trouble, with the main action being compressed into the back third of the stage. The card game, murder and initial interviews are the crucial scene setting for the story, yet they take place a good distance away from the audience. The cast have to work harder to draw us in, but the empty space is screaming to be filled. By building such an early barrier within the set, very few of the actors were prepared to come down to speak to us.

That isn’t to say that the characters weren’t there, the four suspects were all equally suspicious and villainous whilst the investigators had theories and suspicions to share which allowed the plot to chug along merrily. Jon Manley appears comfortable in the role of Superintendent Battle, who conducts a firm investigation which is never quite as much fun as his role as Inspector Pratt in the previous season’s spoof offering Murdered to Death.

A couple of faces reappeared in similar roles to the earlier spoof, with Suzie Powell here playing Mrs Lorrimer and Nigel Stevenson as Dr Roberts. Not quite the same characters as the previous year, but caught in a similar enough scenario that it seems odd at first that they’re not playing it for laughs.

The most fun in this production came from the cameo roles, with Sam Birch and Lisa Fletcher, both providing light relief in scenes with Battle, as Sergeant O’Connor and Miss Burgess respectively. But it was Sarah Davies who stole the show in the second act as Doris, Mrs Lorrimer’s maid. A brief appearance, but cheekily milked for every laugh she could get, with an audience who welcomed every opportunity, you wonder if anyone was concentrating on what was actually happening in those scenes.

Meanwhile, around the same time in the play, I became aware of the wonderful look the production had, with a glorious balance of turquoise and burgundy. In a few moments in Mrs Lorrimer’s drawing room, the cushions, the pictures on the wall and the items on the desk worked in tandem with the costumes of Lorrimer and Battle to produce a visual feast of 1930s magic. It was striking and beautifully thought out.

A nice cosy show for an autumn night, with plenty for the Agatha fans, and mercifully short for those of us less taken with her.

Last review from the Little Theatre – Pardon Me, Prime Minister

For more information visit: www.toadslittletheatre.co.uk

The Hollow – Kingsbridge Amateur Theatrical Society

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Agatha Christie season continues in the amateur world as the KATS of the Kingsbridge Amateur Theatrical Society take on ‘The Hollow’. Under the direction of Wendy Morrall, this production ran from 14 to 17 September 2011 at the Marlborough Village Hall.

The Angkatell family homes are the focus of ‘The Hollow’ and it is Ainswick, the estate that has been left behind that casts the greatest shadow across this play. A painting of Ainswick hangs over the mantelpiece on the edge of a beautiful set. Every member of the Angkatell family had a moment of recalling how Ainswick had impacted on their younger days, and there was an atmosphere of great sadness, that the family was slightly displaced since Lady Lucy Angkatell, played by Pat Stone, had missed out on inheriting the family estate because of her gender. Stone’s performance was a highlight of the evening, in a character so beautifully drawn to say the wrong thing at just the right moment, there was great fun to be had and there was a real sense of an audience waiting for what she will do next.

There were two striking moments of comedy concerning Lady Lucy, the first a simple sight gag involving a lobster and some wonderful timing on the part of Stone in a double take. The second involved how the family take the ‘News of the World’ on a Sunday for the staff to read, but they let Lady Lucy have it first to stay on top of the scandals in society. Perhaps this resonated further in the audience given the events of this year, but the observation was nicely dealt with.

The staff of the house also offered light relief, with Gudgeon the butler played by Kevin Brown and Doris the maid by Beckie Leedham. Whilst being well used to show the passage of time between scenes, when they become embroiled in the murder plot in the second half, both have a nice balance between humour and caring for their employers and employment and doing the right thing.

For love triangles the production did a valiant job of overcoming the issue of age. Each couple looked plausible with each other if not with the dialogue of the script. There was a great tension between Jill Brock’s Henrietta Angkatell and Mike Davies as Dr John Cristow that Brock continued to sell to the end of the play. Stefanie Brown’s performance as Midge never went for irony in the assertion that she’s not a little girl anymore, instead you could accept Edward Angkatell, played by Trevor Trout, was so wrapped up in the idea of marrying Henrietta, he hadn’t stopped to look at Midge in the best part of ten years.

As one of Christie’s great double-bluffs, the murder mystery becomes something of a sideshow to the real plot here, ensuring the Angkatell family stays at Ainswick, until some joyful scenes involving brandy, poison and a nice cup of tea.

A great show with a positive atmosphere, and the best death I’ve seen this summer, where a character shot in the grounds, comes back into the house and finds his way to centre stage before finally dropping. The audience laughed. I’m hoping they were supposed to.

For more information visit: www.kats-kingsbridge.co.uk

For other Agatha Christie plays reviewed, try

And Then There Were None – Bijou Theatre Productions

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From 14 June to 14 July, the Palace Theatre, Paignton played host to Bijou Theatre Productions presentation of Agatha Christie’s best selling novel, ‘And Then There Were None’. Directed by Jill Farrant, the action takes place in a secluded house on an island, where ten people are stranded and death walks among them.

Television schedules are full of murder mysteries where police or private detectives or nice old ladies are solving crimes left, right and centre. One thing we know about TV crime these days, whether it be Midsomer Murders or CSI, your body count has begun by the first set of adverts if not the end of the opening credits – Christie here allows a gentler opening.

‘And Then There Were None’ is fun because you’re waiting for people to start dying, yet it takes a long time to set up the characters. You’re looking for an obvious detective figure, but this is a world of every man for himself.

There is strong characterisation all around the Bijou cast with no weak link. Jon Manley as Philip Lombard and Julie Smith as Vera Claythorne stand out as will they/of course they will couple – whilst Ian Cooper delivers a delightfully cool judge to balance Colin Baker’s nervy doctor of nerves.

I enjoyed the use of seating – allowing the full cast on stage for one scene with the reveal of who they are to each other and why they are there, without looking awkward. The early humour as characters arrived and were introduced with apologies for an absent host were playful.

Once the deaths start there’s no stopping this script, which finds momentum in the second act. Each person explains a back story that led to their being involved in somebody’s death, resulting in powerful scenes from Chris Mackenzie-Thorpe as General Mackenzie and Yvonne Tilley as Emily Brent.

With many a twist before the conclusion, the play deviates from Christie’s novel, but in a way greatly satisfying – with the final three characters each displaying a level of madness that they could all be the killer. The threat than ran through the performance was very real, and the tension held until the end. If I wasn’t already a nail-biter, this would be nail-biting stuff.

The only thing that let down this production was the venue. Unfortunately, the Palace Theatre was uncomfortably warm, leaving an audience a little sleepier than you might expect – many a programme was doubling up a fan come the end of the night. Not a fair reflection of the show, which was a thrilling night out.

Although the run at the Palace is over, you can still catch the same cast at the Flavel, Dartmouth as they tour from 19 July to 21 July with a matinee on the Wednesday.

For more information, visit: www.theflavel.org.uk