Festival Theatre, Malvern – until 28th October 2023
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
5*****
Agatha Christie continues to thrill us with “And Then There Were None” – which I read is one of her most popular works, despite having neither of her two big hitters (Poirot or Marple) in it.
Ten characters are invited to Soldier Island for diverse reasons. Events unravel rapidly as things are not entirely as they seem and not everyone is being candid about their identity (or past). When the murders start and the significance of the Ten Little Soliders poem in each guest’s room becomes apparent, then the soldier statuettes on the table disappear with each dispatched guest, the madness truly begins.
It’s not often I begin a review with the Set Designer but Mike Britton deserves a lot of praise for producing a space which is substantial and yet leaves much to the imagination. It combines different elements in a condensed space – the painted walls becoming the distant sea at one point, the curtain separates the inside and out and acts like an internal wall but also as a metaphorical cinema screen to the soul (whereupon flashbacks happen). It was hard to tell sometimes where the island ended and the house began, the sloping stage sometimes being inside and sometimes outside the house – giving an even more off kilter effect – a bit like the movie The Haunting with the odd camera angles keeping us on edge and off balance. A perfect setting!
A really hard one to critique without giving the game away – especially when it comes to praising the actors for their individual qualities. That said, I was particularly impressed with Katy Stephens as Emily Brent and Sophie Walter as Vera Claythorne for producing strong women at either end of the philosophical spectrum. Also, Bob Barrett as Dr Armstrong, Jeffery Kissoon as General Mackenzie and David Yelland as Judge Wargrave who all gave performances with impressive gravitas that conveyed the status of their characters. Those who survived the longest obviously got more of the manic stuff to play and impressed the most – but, as I said, no spoilers so…
The entire production had a wonderful cinematic quality to it. The costumes were lavish and there was clever use of lighting and music to evoke atmosphere and ramp up the intense claustrophobia and unseen menace. The darkness was almost a character in its own right. Every element added to the overall impression of a production that has benefited from the expertise of a very talented team.
Lucy Bailey’s fine directing give us a compelling reading of this Christie classic, with a contemporary feel even though it was authentically set in the original 1939 – quite a masterstroke! Every last drop of everything was wrung out of the actors and nothing was left in the rehearsal room. Truly impressive.
The play had a natural crescendo – the second half especially really flew by like a runaway train with no brakes. The set became more strewn with debris as the remaining characters descended into the madness, anxiety, guilt, suspicion etc… Until the truly shocking ending. In a word – brilliant.
The Queen of Crime given the right royal treatment. I would wholeheartedly recommend getting yourself a ticket now. Don’t kick yourself later after leaving it until there were none.