And Then There Were None

Who'd have thought that a murder mystery could be such fun!

Agatha Christie's setup has seven guests and three newly hired hands, apparently none knowing their host, arrive on an isolated island for a weekend as weather sets in.  The relaxed atmosphere is rather ruined when the host, via a recording, announces their past crimes.

And then the deaths begin. And the murderer is one of the party.

Comic moments peppered the urgent mystery of the serial murderer's identity; scenes' final moments of dramatic climax even lightened as the curtains closed on tableaux of shock and horror.  Articulation was clear; movements, even tricky actions, were well coordinated.  Acting was largely convincing, something Rep manages to achieve consistently despite a theatre of reasonable size.  It was a bigger challenge than in many other productions because of the characters' quaintness and the perhaps necessary limits of our knowledge of them and because Christie focuses on plot rather than characterisation.  I was particularly taken with the convincing acting of Oliver Baudert, as General Mackenzie.  It's a quiet role, but Baudert's command of it is delightful.

As usual, lighting, props, costuming, and set were superb.  The music was particularly suitable: possibly more serious than the play itself.

An evening of great fun punctuated by the odd jump from your seat.

John P. Harvey

Photo: Corille Fraser, Hannah Ley, Jasan Savage, Peter Holland, Geoffrey Borny, and Oliver Baudert in And Then There Were None. Picture: Helen Drum.