And Then There Were None

Whoever said that crime doesn’t pay? In the case of Agatha Christie, the genre of murder mystery has been a literary gold-mine.

As an ironic observation of what was to come, one of the guests arriving at Soldier Island stated that something peculiar was taking place on their weekend away.

One by one the toy soldiers on the coffee table disappear as the corresponding character shuffled off their mortal coil, in this theatrical adaptation of what was recently voted as Christie’s most popular novel.

The deaths follow the pattern of a rhyme. “Ten Little Soldier Boys went out to dine, one choked his little self and then there were nine.”

Guests have been called mysteriously to the grand home on an island off the coast of Devon, which set designer Dale Ferguson has modelled on a modernist masterwork with tall metal windows and expansive views.

Soon a storm erupts leaving them all trapped.

Mysteriously the owners of the home are not there when the guests arrive and instead they are greeted by the butler Roger (Grant Piro) and maid  Mrs Rogers (Chisten O’Leary) in a panic.

It soon emerges that the guests have skeletons in their closet, having committed heinous acts of negligence and selfishness which have caused death and misery to others.

Thus, the riddle begins. There are no shortage of motives for a killer, so who might be the murderer?

Christie uses an ingenious device to confound would be sleuths in the audience, which we are bound to keep secret.

Director Robyn Nevin has put together a crisp production with a stellar cast.

My favourite was Peter O’Brien as the bumbling former detective who begins with a disguised South African accent before revealing his identity.

It is almost to leave anyone out. Nicholas Hammond was erudite as General Mackenzie, Jack Bannister, suitably loathsome as rich boy Anthony Marston, whilst Mia Morrissey played Vera Claythorne, a teacher at a third-rate all-girls’ school, deliciously.

There is so much to take in that it’s worth seeing a second time to appreciate all the twists and turns.

David Spicer

Photographer: Jeff Busby