IT MAY BE 50 years since Agatha Christie, the Queen of ‘whodunit’ died of natural causes at the age of 85, but her name still packs theatres – as evidenced at Malvern last night where the wasn’t a seat to be had – and it’s pretty much ‘house-full’ signs all week.
On the boards is a new version of Christie’s ‘Death On The Nile’ by the celebrated writer Ken Ludwig. He did a similar re-versioning of her ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ a couple of years or more back to international success – currently on a tour of China.
In this Egyptian escapade, Ludwig takes the original and gives it a big shake up. The only thing that remains as Christie wrote is ‘whodunit stilldoesit!’ Many of the minor characters (who are red herrings in the book) are gone and in come new players including Septimus Troy, a Shakesperean actor and Atticus Praed, the curator of a British museum. They feature in a whole new ‘meet ‘n’ greet’ opening scene set in the museum at a fund raiser. Here we also meet the ‘sarcophagus’ (aka Mummy) whose repatriation to Egypt makes sense of the reason why everyone’s off on a luxury all-inclusive river cruise to the pyramids.
We meet the charismatic Mark Hadfield as the famous little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot even earlier than this – he’s smoking unobserved in the shadows outside the museum watching a couple of lovers kissing – first kiss and first clue. Hadfield puts in a very respectable, rarely off the stage performance. He follows in some giant footsteps of course, including Peter Ustinov and Kenneth Branagh. Ludwig has written Poirot not only as our detective but also our narrator and this works very well indeed.
Picture by Manuel Harlan. s
Once the opening scene is done and dusted, the pace picks up as we get on board the Nile cruiser. The characters all gain more depth and the plot unravels. Elegance abounds and life looks good through a cocktail glass until the bullets and the bodies spoil the party.
Howard Gossington’s Atticus blossoms as the passionate museum buff and Terence Wilson puts in a big and brash performance as Septimus. There’s glitz and glamour from the sumptuous Glynis Barber as Salome Otterbourne and a perfect professional debut from Libby Alexandra-Cooper as the slightly paranoid heiress Linnet Ridgeway.
Bob Barrett makes an ideal chum for the little Belgian PI as MI5 agent Colonel Race, Esme Hough goes for the jugular with a full-on outing as spurned lover, Jacqueline de Bellefort and Nye Occomore goes for it like he’s won the prize chicken as Simon Doyle, Linnet’s new husband.
The real star of the show is designer Mike Britton’s set; it truly is a work of grandeur and brilliance, set on two levels with elegance and adaptability. We are taken on board the boat and then get to view the action from a vantage point somewhere on the Nile looking at our cruisers on their balconies looking back at us. It all moves seamlessly into different shapes and areas – truly a set to remember and complimented by stunning costumes.
Picture by Manuel Harlan. s
Director Lucy Bailey’s hand on the wheel steers a steady path through the treacle making the action easy to follow. However, to be honest, style does have the edge over the substance. For me (whilst this is the best stage version I have seen from a company all working their socks off) there is still too much frothy dialogue and clunkiness afoot. If you can ignore that and just enjoy the lusciousness of the spectacle, then tally ho! One thing it does do is make you want to get away from the rain and book a cruise.
Death on the Nile runs at Malvern Theatres runs until Saturday, February 14. Click here for times, tickets and more information.
****
Review by Euan Rose
Euan Rose reviews
