Curve Theatre Leicester – until 19th Oct 2024
Reviewed by Amarjeet Singh
3***
Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie’s most beloved and treasured tales. Deviating from your average whodunit, it truly challenges traditional formula and enables the detective to flex the power of his little grey cells and explore compassion and concern for humanity. A snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train, unusually full for this time of year is a little lighter by the morning when a passenger is found stabbed to death in his bed, his door locked from the inside and there is no clue of how the crime was committed. Isolated and with a murderer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot sets about identifying the murderer by meticulously interviewing a motley crew of passengers who are trapped alongside him in this treacherous weather on this fateful night.
Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Christie’s tale, made some bold choices, attempting to present a modern and lavish rendition, but they didn’t all land well. The production is confused, delivering huge amounts of exposition without depth, so we never warm to most of the characters. They largely stay as over the top, hammy caricature’s, with no character development or light and dark. We don’t fully understand motives, drives, desires and connection, which is a huge part of this story and is much needed in order for it to all come together at the end.
Unfortunately, it appears, this production chose to focus on Mike Britton’s set design. A clunky and cumbersome cluster of compartments which click together to form a train. They are beautiful but they hinder the performance and our engagement with it, by causing long pauses between scenes, obstructing views and creating jarring noises. Sarah Holland’s lustrous costumes bring some real pizazz to the production.
Michael Maloney’s portrayal of Poirot begins as the familiar Belgian detective we remember, but this quickly slips into moments of strangeness. Giggling, flirting and such before returning back to his stoic stance, leaving me confused, what was the point of this shift? The final reveal at the end is so far removed from the cool, calm collected and compassionate sleuth that it fell flat and was unbelievable.
As disjointed as the train, sadly this production just didn’t work.