By: James Banyard, TRP Reviewer
In this classic Agatha Christie whodunnit, a dozen or so characters, including a judge, an undercover policeman, and a spiv with a fast car – all with dodgy pasts and terrible secrets – find themselves mysteriously summoned by letter to Soldier Island off the coast of Devon. Once there, they find no boat to take them back to the mainland and no phone to summon help. What could possibly go wrong? The title gives away the unhappy ending – And Then There Were None.
This new touring co-production from A Fiery Angel, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, and ROYO, and directed by Lucy Bailey is at TRP this week. If you’ve read the book by Agatha Christie – and at least 100 million readers have – you know how it ends, and will take interest in the ways the cast bring the story alive. If you don’t know how it ends, be prepared for an uncrackable puzzle.
If Agatha Christie were alive today I feel she would be a fan of the hit TV show The Traitors. And Then There Were None has much in common with the show. Both involve a group of paranoia-soaked inhabitants lured to a remote location with the promise of a prize. Both see their numbers slowly dwindle. Alliances form and lies are told with no one able to trust their new friends further than they could throw a double scotch from the Edwardian drinks trolley.
It’s a packed audience for the opening night. Local writer done well, Agatha Christie, remains a draw for audiences who love a cerebral challenge with their murders. Crime in general remains a buoyant genre, witness the stratospheric book sales from cosy crime master Richard Osman. Although, cosy this isn’t. We see a series of graphic deaths among the fractious crowd (the actors, rather than the audience), and as the cast gradually disappear, the mystery of who is doing the killing only increases.
There is much to like from a Devonian perspective. Soldier Island is inspired by Burgh Island in South Devon, while characters reference places like Honiton, Plymouth and all our favourite London terminus, Paddington. There are some self-aware lines: ‘I feel like were trapped in a detective novel!’ one character wails. Unfortunately, the initial exposition relating how the characters are summoned to the island is a little clunky and screams literary adaptation, but once the first guest died I relaxed a little (note to editor, great pull-quote?).
As the play develops there are shades of An Inspector Calls. In that play a genteel dinner party is shattered by the guest’s gruesome secrets. Everyone here has a secret from their past they would like to forget, and they try desperately to justify. So, it is also part morality play. Unlike JB Priestly’s work though, there’s no supernatural element here, although I defy anyone watching this for the first time to successfully work out the mystery.
The production does have a few rough edges: some lines could be delivered more clearly; sound effects are inconsistent, and the show at times forgets its set on an island amongst waves and seagulls; deep into act 2 the lighting designer appears to have gone home, and we are left for long stretches looking at the painted scenery under the harsh lighting you might have in your kitchen; the large ensemble cast had me confused at times about who was who.
In spite of these niggles, there are great performances from Bob Barrett as the Doctor, Andrew Lancel as Mr Blore, and Nicola May-Taylor as Jane Pinchbeck. In a time where we are fascinated with shows about groups stabbing each other in the back, from Westminster politics to The Traitors, this production still speaks to current concerns.