And Then There Were None

In response to the resounding success of The Mousetrap, Robyn Nevin returns to direct another thrilling Agatha Christie mystery, And Then There Were None. Patricia Di Risio spoke to Nevin and her partner Nicholas Hammond, who plays General MacKenzie.

Prior to working on The Mousetrap Robyn Nevin and Nicholas Hammond admit that they were not big Christie fans. Nevin points out, “I was a bit snobbish ... and I realise now I have missed out on a great deal, and I am making up for lost time.” '

However, both were delighted to have the opportunity to discover the intricate nature of her work. Nevin especially recognises Christie’s prolific talent and her ability to construct intriguing stories. “I am a huge admirer of her enormous output, but also her skills in plotting and in creating characters that one might very easily and all too quickly describe as cliches … they’re not at all. They’re deep and profoundly complicated because they carry secrets that have created a burden for them and have made their inner lives very complex.”

Hammond describes how the psychological perspective of Christie’s characters makes playing her roles fascinating. Unravelling their secrets reveals the damage and even trauma that many of the characters harbour. Hammond especially admires Christie’s bravery in addressing issues that were rarely talked about openly in her time.

Despite a long and very distinguished acting career, this is Hammond’s first time playing a Christie character. He acknowledges that there is an important Christie legacy to live up to. “It carries the responsibility of reaching the standard her audience expects of her.” 

Nevin has carefully assembled a stellar cast for this production. The selection involved a long and extensive auditioning process and Nevin observed that, “Interestingly, it is quite difficult to attract some actors to stage tours … because actors are keen for film work and they’re less enthusiastic now about touring stage plays than in the past.” 

Nonetheless, Nevin has attracted some big-name Australian talent, including Hammond, who has featured in legendary film and television productions (Lord of the Flies, The Sound of Music, Spider-Man, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). 

This production brings together an impressive range of performers who are highly regarded across Australian stage and screen (Jack Bannister, Eden Falk, Jennifer Flowers, Mia Morrissey, Peter O’Brien, Christen O’Leary, Chris Parker, Anthony Phelan, Grant Piro, and Tom Stokes). Nevin is especially pleased with the high calibre of performers that she has been able to bring to this production.

As a hugely successful novel, And Then There Were None was adapted into a play by Christie. However, she altered the ending of the book for the stage as it was perceived as too grim for a postwar theatrical audience. There are several film versions of the story and a spine-chilling 2015 BBC television series which all attest to the incredible popularity of Christie’s work (regardless of the ending that is favoured). 

Nevin has preferred not to be influenced by the numerous iterations or interpretations of the book and has avoided viewing much of this content. “When I knew I was going to direct it, I deliberately didn’t watch anything. I didn’t want to be affected by seeing other people’s versions.” 

Instead, in this production Nevin is determined to preserve the authenticity of Christie’s voice and to remain faithful to the book, including the ending that Christie devised first. Hammond added, “It was Agatha Christie’s original ending … it was her choice for the way to end it until she felt compelled to change it. I think its truer to her writer’s instinct.”

And Then There We None is set on Soldier Island, where ten strangers, all from very different worlds, are summoned together in a very unusual circumstance. Trapped in the remote location, the intrigue unfolds, and the truth unravels about each of them. 

The book was written in 1939 and was adapted into a play by Christie in 1943. The text strongly reflects much of the culture of the time and Nevin sees it as portraying prevailing opinions, not of Christie, but of the period. “They’re not her attitudes; they are attitudes of characters … but they do reflect aspects of that era, to which we are being faithful and of which we are critical.” (Original references to ‘African Natives’ have been removed.)

When I asked Nevin how the play might appeal to a contemporary audience, she immediately pointed to the strength of the narrative. “I think it is a completely gripping plot... there’s mounting tension...it’s a mystery, it’s a thriller and so people are held by the developing tension and revelation of a thriller.” 

Nevin also points to the strength of the way the author has delineated her characters. “They are very distinct. They are all very well drawn, comprehensively thought through, and fleshed out people. They are all extremely different from each other...and you get involved with the different characters and their particular stories. It’s just a very well-made play.” 

Hammond agrees and highlights how Christie has cross generational appeal allowing people of all ages to appreciate and love her work. “She is still very, very popular with a contemporary audience.”

Nevin and Hammond first met when they worked on Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind, performed at the Sydney Opera House in 1987. They worked together again as actors when Nevin starred in the 2012 MTC production, Queen Lear. However, this is the first time they have worked together as director and actor. This is a relatively new experience for them as they have rarely had the opportunity to work on the same project. 

Their work has often meant that they have been called away on different productions in different places. Nevin has been Artistic Director and CEO of two state theatre companies; she led the Queensland Theatre company for three years (1996 to 1999) and then the Sydney Theatre Company for nine years (1999 to 2007). 

As an actor she is renowned for important roles on stage (A Streetcar Named Desire, Women Of Troy, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll), film (The Castle, Careful He Might Hear You, The Eye of the Storm, Emerald City, The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith and the 2003 Matrix movies) and television (Water Under The Bridge, Top Of The Lake, Upper Middle Bogan).

Nevin describes how the transition into directing was extremely fortuitous and came about when she was invited to direct a female led production (i.e. woman director, playwright, and set designer) for the Sydney Theatre Company as part of International Women’s Year. Nevin asserts that being able to share her skill and craft as performer is undoubtedly one her greatest strengths as a director. 

“Certainly, I know how to act and that puts me way ahead of an awful lot of directors who don’t know anything about acting. They have other skills which I don’t have. My greatest skill is knowing how to bring a text to life, inhabiting a character on stage in an imaginary world...I am very confident about helping actors to work technically, to have control over the emotional mess or the mess of emotion that has to be structured in a way that shows you the real person.”

For Nevin, allowing the clarity of a narrative to flourish is an important aspect of her directorial approach.

Nevin and Hammond have both had many highlights in their amazing and fascinating careers and their work in this Christie play is fast shaping up to becoming one of those highlights. Nevin also expressed a great deal of enthusiasm for the possibility of working on more Christie texts in the future. 

And Then There Were None promises to be an important chapter in a phenomenal revival of Christie’s work driven by eminent Australian talent for an eminently deserving Australian audience.  

Produced by John Frost for Crossroads Live, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, following its opening in Melbourne. A Sydney season follows at the Theatre Royal in May, then His Majesty’s Theatre Perth in June and Her Majesty’s Theatre Adelaide in August.

Photographer: Jeff Busby