And Then There Were None - by Agatha Christie, UK National Tour, 2008

Review from the Western Morning News

by Anne Broom

A magnificent Art Deco set, all polished carved wood panelling with French doors set into a huge circular upstage window is the sumptuous setting for this fine production by The Agatha Christie Theatre Company. Director Joe Harmston has assembled an excellent and experienced cast that does full justice to Christie’s Whodunnit, keeping audiences on a knife-edge until the final moments.

Remaining true to Christie’s original idea and using her own adaptation of her book, designer Simon Scullion’s set becomes becomes a claustrophobic prison of their own creation for the disparate group of house guests who arrive on Soldier Island. A disembodied voice encourages them to make personal confessions but ultimately self-preservation makes these seemingly normal people behave like animals, while the 10 figurines set on the mantle shelf above the fireplace mysteriously, and alermingly, continue to diminsih in number.

Set in August 1939, this meticulous production precisely captures the social and political mores of a country on the brink of war. Every character is convincingly a product of its time and no mere stereotype. Lighting and music add to the growing unease as tension increases. As an immensely wary and much-reduced group of guests huddles by candlelight during a stormy night, there are further shocks.

In a strong and convincing cast Gerald Harper’s measured Judge and Jennifer Wilson’s sanctimonious spinster are finely played, whilst Alex Ferns gives a carefully-judged performance as the restless and unpredictable former soldier. The third production from the official Agatha Christie Theatre Company is from first to last an exciting cliff-hanger and the Torquay-born writer’s stories are in safe hands in this their finest production to date.

18 September 2008