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The Province
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Province
Theatre review: Arts Club's The Mousetrap a creaky, but fun production
Beatrice Zeilinger's Mrs. Boyle is so self-righteously pompous you'd almost expect her to slip on a banana peel in Agatha Christie classic whodunit The Arts Club's production of The Mousetrap runs until Aug. 10. Moonrider Productions photo Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. The Mousetrap This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. 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THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors When: To Aug. 10 Where: Granville Island Stage, 1585 Johnston St. Tickets & info: From $39 at With only a brief hiccup for COVID, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has been playing non-stop on the London stage since 1952, the longest consecutively running play in history. Its appeal is evident. Christie has written a clever murder mystery, the prototypical whodunit, combined with a goofy domestic comedy. In our cynical age anything too unrelievedly serious feels like melodrama. Every CSI clone has to have its wisecracking detective and eccentric coroner. So we meet a variety of characters in a guest house outside London, snowed-in by a blizzard. Enter the police officer to announce that a murder has been committed and the murderer is headed here. By the end of the first act the phone line has gone dead, someone in the house has been murdered, and a third murder is expected. Everyone is hiding something and every character is a legitimate suspect. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Rest assured that I won't reveal the victim or the murderer. Unlike Christie's other most popular tales like Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, the Christie estate has never allowed a movie to be made of The Mousetrap in oder to keep the ending semi-secret. At the end of the play the Arts Club audience is asked to keep the revelations to themselves. In Stephen Drover's production we're in the great hall of Monkswell Manor, which recently married Giles (Jay Clift) and Mollie Ralston (Ming Hudson) have turned into a guest house. As the snow continues to fall, their guests arrive: a motor-mouthed, jokey young would-be architect ironically named Christopher Wren (Zander Eke) and his foil, imperious Mrs. Boyle (Beatrice Zeilinger); militarily erect Major Metcalf (Anthony Santiago) and aggressive, stylish Miss Casewell (Melissa Oei), who has been living abroad. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. An unexpected guest is the suspiciously theatrical Italian, Mr. Paravicini (Andrew McNee), soon followed by Detective Sergeant Trotter (Charlie Gallant), who made it through the blizzard on skis. He proceeds to warn and interrogate them all. Patrick Rizzotti's woody set has at least seven doors plus a window and two staircases by which the characters in Nancy Bryant's period costumes constantly enter and exit, like in a farce but less frantically. Both Wren and Paravicini are semi-farcical characters, unpredictable and slightly beyond the pale, taken to saying outrageous things. Eke and McNee make them both very funny. Zeilinger's Mrs. Boyle is so self-righteously pompous you'd almost expect her to slip on a banana peel. Oei's Miss Casewell keeps insisting with a half-smile that the murderer must be a sex maniac. Giles and Trotter are rather blustery in that 1950s British rhetorical style. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. At the centre of the action, trying to make sense of all the chaos, Hudson's earnest hostess Mollie takes acting honours. A nd the ending is a nice surprise. As compelling as it may be, The Mousetrap at age 73 has become more than a little creaky. Christie spends a lot of time setting up both acts at a pace slower than 21st century audiences have grown used to. The production could really use some tightening. But what fun to tap into such a theatre-historical classic. Read More World Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Whitecaps News
Vancouver Sun
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Theatre review: Arts Club's The Mousetrap a creaky, but fun production
The Mousetrap When: To Aug. 10 Where: Granville Island Stage, 1585 Johnston St. Tickets & info: From $39 at With only a brief hiccup for COVID, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has been playing non-stop on the London stage since 1952, the longest consecutively running play in history. Its appeal is evident. Christie has written a clever murder mystery, the prototypical whodunit, combined with a goofy domestic comedy. In our cynical age anything too unrelievedly serious feels like melodrama. Every CSI clone has to have its wisecracking detective and eccentric coroner. So we meet a variety of characters in a guest house outside London, snowed-in by a blizzard. Enter the police officer to announce that a murder has been committed and the murderer is headed here. By the end of the first act the phone line has gone dead, someone in the house has been murdered, and a third murder is expected. Everyone is hiding something and every character is a legitimate suspect. Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Rest assured that I won't reveal the victim or the murderer. Unlike Christie's other most popular tales like Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, the Christie estate has never allowed a movie to be made of The Mousetrap in oder to keep the ending semi-secret. At the end of the play the Arts Club audience is asked to keep the revelations to themselves. In Stephen Drover's production we're in the great hall of Monkswell Manor, which recently married Giles (Jay Clift) and Mollie Ralston (Ming Hudson) have turned into a guest house. As the snow continues to fall, their guests arrive: a motor-mouthed, jokey young would-be architect ironically named Christopher Wren (Zander Eke) and his foil, imperious Mrs. Boyle (Beatrice Zeilinger); militarily erect Major Metcalf (Anthony Santiago) and aggressive, stylish Miss Casewell (Melissa Oei), who has been living abroad. An unexpected guest is the suspiciously theatrical Italian, Mr. Paravicini (Andrew McNee), soon followed by Detective Sergeant Trotter (Charlie Gallant), who made it through the blizzard on skis. He proceeds to warn and interrogate them all. Patrick Rizzotti's woody set has at least seven doors plus a window and two staircases by which the characters in Nancy Bryant's period costumes constantly enter and exit, like in a farce but less frantically. Both Wren and Paravicini are semi-farcical characters, unpredictable and slightly beyond the pale, taken to saying outrageous things. Eke and McNee make them both very funny. Zeilinger's Mrs. Boyle is so self-righteously pompous you'd almost expect her to slip on a banana peel. Oei's Miss Casewell keeps insisting with a half-smile that the murderer must be a sex maniac. Giles and Trotter are rather blustery in that 1950s British rhetorical style. At the centre of the action, trying to make sense of all the chaos, Hudson's earnest hostess Mollie takes acting honours. A nd the ending is a nice surprise. As compelling as it may be, The Mousetrap at age 73 has become more than a little creaky. Christie spends a lot of time setting up both acts at a pace slower than 21st century audiences have grown used to. The production could really use some tightening. But what fun to tap into such a theatre-historical classic.
Daily Mirror
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I'm a chemist - Agatha Christie wrote one murder plot better than any other'
A new book, V for Venom, by a chemist-turned-author Kathryn Harkup reveals why Agatha Christie 's poison plots were so accurate – and why we still can't get enough of a good cosy murder mystery story There's nothing the British public enjoys more than a good murder – on TV, of course! Whether it's re-runs of Hercule Poirot, brilliantly played by David Suchet, Miss Marple, or Angelica Houston in the new BBC Agatha Christie adaptation Towards Zero, everyone loves a good murder mystery. Queen of Murder Dame Agatha Christie is probably the best-selling author of all time. Churning out 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, she also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap. And her stories have been made into at least 23 films, including Death On the Nile and Murder On The Orient Express, as well being adapted into numerous TV series. According to a new book, among her many, imaginative ways of 'doing in' her victims, poisoning was a favourite choice, Kathryn Harkup, author of V is Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death, says it was her use of poisons - both to add intrigue to plots and to murder victims with - that put Christie head and shoulders above other writers during the Golden Age of detective fiction. 'Christie did use an awful lot of guns, stabbing, blunt objects, strangulation to kill her characters – she went through the entire range,' says Kathryn, 47, of Guildford, Surrey. 'But I think she is exceptional in her use of poisons, because she was a chemist and also such a prolific writer that she used so many different examples in her books.' Born in Torquay, Devon, in 1890, Agatha Christie volunteered during the First World War as a nurse and later trained as a dispenser. Drugs didn't come ready packaged in those days, says Kathryn, they had to be measured, mixed together and processed, according to doctors' prescriptions. And her dispensing experience was clear in Christie's writing, as she always quoted quantities of poisons in grains throughout her stories, as she was not a fan of the modern measuring system. 'The great danger of the metric system', she said, 'is that if you go wrong, you go 10 times wrong.' It's more than a century since Christie wrote her first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, which she penned in 1916 but was published in 1920. Many of her novels were written in the 1930s – a decade that, in our collective imagination, is synonymous with the author. Kathryn writes: 'The world Christie created is perhaps a little more detached from horrible reality than others. But, again, many other writers have done the same, blotting their charming chocolate-box sceneries.' She quotes US writer Raymond Chandler, who said: 'All crime fiction has to have an element of detachment from the real world, otherwise, it would only be written and read by psychopaths.' Kathryn feels Christie expertly wove the glamour of decades like the 1930s into her gripping murder plots, to draw readers in. And her attention to detail when setting the scene is what has made her appeal so enduring. She adds: 'I think there is this huge nostalgia for that era (the 1930s) with all these beautiful clothes and cars and gorgeous art deco buildings – even though Christie was writing books right into the 1970s. When you read her stories she is much more contemporary when writing. 'However it's the backdrop of glamour that increases our detachment from the horror of what is a murder. So you can just sit there and enjoy it as a puzzle and have a nice afternoon on the sofa with a cup of tea and read about a gory murder.' A trained chemist, Kathryn is endlessly impressed by the accuracy of Christie's use of poisons in her plots - although, readers can breathe easy, as many of the toxic tinctures she uses are no longer available. She says: 'What has changed since the 1970s is accessibility – you just can't get hold of the stuff that Christie's writing about very easily. 'Also, methods of detection are far, far superior these days, as well as medical treatment. People who are poisoned are much more likely to survive. And so you have attempted murder rather than actual murder.' Historically, poisons were a very popular way to kill people off, as these kind of homicides were so difficult to prove. Many killers got away with murder for years. Kathryn explains: 'It was in the Victorian era that people decided to do something about this and establish some protocols and some tests that can find these poisons and show evidence to a jury.' She also cites infamous trials in the past where murderers were clearly inspired by Christie – and tried to get away with their crimes. READ MORE: 'I found priceless treasure rummaging on UK riverbank - and there's more out there' 'In 1977 there was a case of atropine poisoning in France,' says Kathryn. 'As soon as they raided Roland Roussel's flat they found a copy of Christie's book, The Tuesday Murder Club, with heavy underlinings and the spine broken on the appropriate page.' The case of the Hay Poisoner in 1921 also had all the ingredients of a Christie murder mystery story, when a respectable Hay-On-Wye solicitor Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong was found guilty of murdering his wife Kitty with arsenic. Nine months after his wife's death from supposed gastritis, heart disease and inflammation of the kidneys, her body was exhumed after her husband was accused of poisoning a rival solicitor. Police found her corpse with arsenic, and when police arrested the Major they discovered a twist of the same poison in his pocket, which he claimed he used to control dandelions in the garden. Major Armstrong was sent to the gallows on May 31, 1922.'But the most recent is probably serial killer Graham Young, also known as the Teacup Poisoner, who was convicted several times for poisoning people, but in 1972, was locked up for murdering his victims with thallium. 'It was a very prominent case and Christie got mentioned in the actual trial because they thought she might have inspired him. Although, to be fair, Young didn't need inspiration, he was well and truly down that path already.' While incarcerated in Broadmoor, the tale took another murderous twist, because one of Young's fellow inmates died of cyanide poisoning. Young had been heard many times saying how cyanide could be extracted from laurel leaves, and as it was noted, the grounds around the psychiatric institution were covered with laurel bushes. In fact, you'd be surprised how many plant species in the UK are absolutely toxic, such as yew tree, foxglove and the cuckoo pint, along with those which have have suitably evil sounding names such as poison hemlock and deadly nightshade. Which must make a walk in the countryside very worrying for a chemist. 'I do walk past things like cow parsley and wonder, 'Oh is that cow parsley or is it hemlock, because they look very similar.' And she tells the story of how she went into a cafe – and went pale when she saw the flowers they had used to decorate the counter. 'The cafe had fresh flowers on top of their little cake display counter and one day I went in and they had monkshood in the vase. I asked the person behind the counter if they were real, and she rubbed her fingers on the leaves and said, 'Yeah they're real.' 'You can absorb that stuff through your fingers, but you've actually got to eat it to be dangerous. However monkshood shouldn't be put that close to food.' And there are many everyday foods we eat which could kill us if we ate them in large enough quantities. 'Sweet almonds are fine, but bitter almonds contain cyanide,' says Kathryn. 'I was once doing a panel once and a man got concerned because he loved marzipan and liked to eat chunks of it. 'I could see him just getting paler and paler as I described the use of almonds. So, to reassure him, I worked out the lethal dose of marzipan, which was about the size of a Labrador – plus you'd have to eat it all in one sitting. 'Apple pips and cherry pips too – they contain cyanide,' she adds. 'I also worked out the lethal dose of apple pips, it's about 200 grams. And you'd really have to crunch it up, because the cyanide compound is inside the pip and it's protected by a tough coating.' Christie also had ingenious ways in her books of making sure the right person was poisoned. 'She would pick a particular food item that only one person at the table likes, or is likely to eat. For example, in her book, A Pocketful of Rye, the person that they want dead is the only person who's going to eat the poisoned marmalade. 'And, of course, there were also antidotes, so the murderer could save themselves later.' But Christie herself was also inspired by one of our earliest and most famous true crime murder cases. Dr Crippen poisoned his wife Cora in 1910 with hyoscine then dismembered her body, and Christie based her book The Moving Finger on his crimes. As someone who is herself an expert on poisons, Kathryn revealed how she would use one. 'I would go into a very detailed history of their medical conditions, their dietary habits and I would tailor it to them, because the thing you've got to avoid is an autopsy,' the author muses. 'Forensic toxicologists are phenomenally good at their job. You've gotta mimic natural causes, because if it goes to the autopsy stage, it's game over.' Lucky, while the science may be accurate, her poison plot is purely fictional! • Kathryn Harkup's book V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death is published by Bloomsbury on June 19 Agatha Christie's library of poisons Anthrax - infection caused by Bacillus anthracis bacteria which is found naturally in soil Arsenic - naturally occurring metal element known for its toxicity Cyanide - extremely poisonous toxic liquid Curare - plant-derived poison known for causing muscle paralysis Gelsemine - highly toxic plant derivative that can cause death Nitroglycerin – a type of nitrate that relaxes blood vessels but too much causes death Ricin - chemical poison which can be made from waste material left over from Strychnine - white, odourless, bitter crystalline powder and strong poison
Los Angeles Times
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
An AI Agatha Christie? The bestselling novelist of all time deserves better than that
There are very few recorded interviews with Dame Agatha Christie, the world's bestselling novelist and generally acknowledged doyenne of crime, for one simple reason: She hated speaking in public. She often described herself as cripplingly shy — she agonized for days when a celebration for the 10th anniversary of her play 'The Mousetrap' required her to give a speech — and she remained morbidly press-adverse after the media swarm that followed her famous 11-day disappearance. (Though in defense of the press, what could one expect when a notable crime writer goes missing for almost two weeks in the midst of a shattering divorce and then, when found, refuses to explain what had happened?) In her autobiography, and through her literary avatar Ariadne Oliver, Christie often described taking great pains to avoid speaking in front of people and she (and Mrs. Oliver) particularly hated being asked questions about her writing. 'I never know what to say,' Mrs. Oliver would wail, echoing sentiments expressed by Christie herself. So when BBC Maestro announced, at the end of April, that it was launching a digital class in which an AI-resurrected Christie would offer lessons in writing, it was difficult not to be outraged. Never mind the whole 'I see dead people'-ness of it all; here was a woman who was on record, multiple times and often at great length, about how much she loathed having to talk about how she did what she did in front of a bunch of people. The creators of the series clearly anticipated such outrage. The prologue to the course features BBC Maestro Chief Executive Michael Levine and Christie's great-grandson James Prichard, chairman and CEO of Agatha Christie Ltd., explaining the care put into the series. The script, we are assured, is rigorously based on Christie's own words; the actor (Vivien Keene) was chosen after a year-and-a-half search; and the set (a library that houses a model of Christie's own typewriter), the costume (a tweed suit accented by pearls, a brooch and duplicates of Christie's engagement and wedding rings) and the hair are models of authenticity. More important, the course has the family's full support. 'At the heart of this project was my father who knew Agatha Christie better than any person living,' Prichard says. 'At times he was astounded by how similar to his grandmother this version was. And my view,' he adds with a mildly challenging air, 'is that if he can enjoy this project, we can all enjoy it.' Challenge accepted. Keeping in mind Christie's fascination with disguise and advanced technology, as well as a passage in her autobiography in which she wishes a friend with more confidence could step in as a substitute during author interviews, I put my fears aside and ponied up $89 for the two-and-a-half-hour class. Which is so respectful I found myself, at more than a few points in the 12 sections, wanting to scream. We meet Keene's Christie behind a desk, and there she stays, smiling and nodding as she walks us through her thoughts on her craft (including, in the introduction, her aversion to offering them). Christie's autobiography is a doorstop. Thoughts about writing, her characters and her career run through it, but they rarely take up more than two consecutive pages. Christie historian Mark Aldridge has done a remarkable job of mining it, as well as other writings, to create a genuine tutorial with an admirable script. Yes, Christie offers the typical anodyne advice — write what you know and the type of book you enjoy reading — but she also gets very granular. A murder mystery is best at 50,000 words, the murderer and important clues must be introduced very early on, settings should be described thoroughly but economically ('sometimes a map works best') and one must never give into an editor who spells cocoa as 'coco.' In portions that include 'characters,' 'plots,' 'settings' and 'clues,' Christie assesses some of her work. She came to think that her first book, 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles,' was over-stuffed with plot, but remained irritated by those who claimed that the twist in 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' was a cheat. She wished she had introduced Hercule Poirot as a younger man, and was very happy to ditch Hastings for a while. She discusses the importance of observation in everyday life, describing, among other things, how an encounter in front of a shop window led to one of her Parker Pyne stories, as well as the usefulness of isolated settings ('snow can also weigh down telephone wires') and second (or third) murders. In the opening minutes, it's kind of neat to see what looks very much like a midlife Christie, smiling and talking in her very British way (the voice is not precise but close enough). Still, there is no getting away from the fact that this is a two-and-a-half-hour lecture, delivered by a woman sitting behind a desk who, with the exception of a very few hand gestures, never moves. The camera moves, shooting her from this angle and that, and occasionally roving over various covers of Christie's books. But Christie's body remains as still as the late Queen Elizabeth II delivering her Christmas address. I began to feel quite concerned for Keene — just how long were these takes? She delivers a vocally expressive performance and gives the digitally recreated face the necessary intelligence, wit and kindliness. The face itself looked fine — a bit glowy at times and immobile around the eyes — but its novelty quickly wore off. I would have happily traded what is essentially a parlor trick for a Christie who would get up and walk around a bit. Have a cup of tea, flip through a notebook. I realize that it is a course, and one I did not have to go through in one sitting. But as the first hour slid into the second, I found myself longing for someone, Aldridge perhaps, to mine Christie's exquisite autobiography more broadly and create an entire one-woman play. An evening with Agatha, free of AI, in which Christie could reminisce about her extraordinary life, from her glorious Victorian childhood to her later years as an archaeologist. Though known as the creator of the manor-house murder story, Christie was, as her books indicate, a voracious world traveler, learning how to surf before surfing was a thing, and dealing with adventures and misadventures (including a 14-hour honeymoon trek by camel and a hideous case of bed bugs on the Orient Express) that would give even the most intrepid travel influencer pause. She lived through two world wars, experienced wildly unexpected success and deep personal loss. She endured a heartbreaking divorce and a nervous breakdown, while raising a daughter and writing books, only to rally again and find love again in the most unexpected place. She wasn't a saint — her work occasionally includes the racist, antisemitic and classist tropes of its time — but she avowed fascism as often as her more political contemporaries and believed, as she says in the course, that she lived in contract with her readers for whom she had the utmost respect. She was a celebrity who never behaved as a celebrity, an artist who never admitted to art (and wrote her books on any steady surface, including orange crates and washstands), a novelist like no other who also wrote the longest-running play in history and whose work continues to sell while being adapted in film and television. Her contribution to the culture is literally incalculable. So surely she deserves more than a course that makes news mainly because of its use of dreaded AI. She's Agatha-freaking-Christie. Give her a movie, a miniseries, a play. Give her an actor who worries less about the face and more about the words, and the life that inspired them.
Time Out
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
And Then There Were None
Hold on to your alibis, dear readers. Hot on the heels of the recent national tour of The Mousetrap, another classic from Agatha Christie's playbook of murder mystery mayhem lands on the stage at Sydney's Theatre Royal. *** Time Out Melbourne reviewed And Then There Were None when it played at the Comedy Theatre in February. Read on for that three-star review: Somewhere off the coast of Devon is a dreary little island with high cliffs, higher tides and no way to escape. It's Soldier Island: a lovely place to put your feet up, take a dip, meet nine strangers and watch as you all get slowly picked off one-by-one. This is the wickedly thrilling premise of Agatha Christie's 1939 classic And Then There Were None. A favourite among Christie fans (and Christie herself), it arrives in a production that once again proves that the master of the whodunnit can still thrill us nearly 100 years on. Yet, this revival from director Robyn Nevin – her second of Christie's following 2023's The Mousetrap – rests on the laurels of its author too often, offering a passable but ultimately thin restaging that I think might signal the end of the recent resurgence of British classics in our theatres. It's 1939. Ten people have been invited to Soldier Island under suspicious pretences. They have little in common apart from the skeletons in their closets. For much of the show's bloated first act, we're watching this motley crew of potential victims introduce themselves to each other. Christie is famous for her ability to construct a complete impression of a person in one short phrase. But here, these characters have a tendency to over-explain themselves, and it can get a bit tedious. You can feel Nevin trying to amplify comedic beats or attempt more creative blocking to avoid this exposition-heavy first half from getting too stale. For this, she has an incredibly talented cast at her disposal. As the ex-soldier Philip Lombard, Tom Stokes keeps things moving with witty jabs and arrogant take downs that strike the perfect balance between Hugh Grant-style arrogance and charisma. His sparring matches with the entitled Cambridge student Anthony Marston (Jack Bannister) and condescending love for the dowdy cop William Blore (Peter O'Brien) inject a much-needed liveliness to these on-stage relationships. Eden Falk is perfect as the authoritative Dr. Armstrong; and Grant Piro is suitably frenetic as the panicked servant, Rogers. Meanwhile, Jennifer Flowers lends a much-needed gravitas to the crocheting traditionalist, Emily Brent. Watching her butt heads with the strong-willed Vera Claythorne (Mia Morrissey) over ideas of feminine modesty stands out as one of those breathtaking moments when you feel an audience suddenly in awe of Christie's enduring relevance. But while her humour comes easily to this cast, the deeper themes that elevate her novel are given short shrift. This is one of Christie's most psychological thrillers. We're watching people unravel at the hands of their guilt and fallibility, as much as the threat of their demise. Without Miss Marple or Detective Poirot, our investigation is weighted with a near-existential hopelessness. Nicholas Hammond doesn't quite land the tragedy of the absent-minded General Mackenzie, Anthony Phelan seems more comfortable performing Sir Lawrence Wargrave's stoicism than his anger, and Morrissey doesn't have enough of a handle on the complex twists and turns in Vera's mental state. Set and costume designer Dale Ferguson situates us in the play's interwar context beautifully by dressing the cast in a well-chosen mix of high-waisted pants, three-piece suits and silk blazers. Their navy blues, beiges and egg-shell whites are brought out by Trudy Dalgleish 's preference for bright white washes and sunny tones in her lighting design. But I wish more was done to amplify the horrors of the show's final act. Occasional glimpses of severe lighting, and ominous shadows are ultimately too tepid to contribute much to any overall atmosphere, leaving us with an emotional climax that feels frustratingly stale. Reviewing an Agatha Christie play can sometimes feel like you're critiquing a Christmas classic. This is hallowed ground, and familiar to many. Some might call it unfair to expect so much. It's a museum piece; a time capsule that should be evaluated as an intriguing glimpse into our past. In recent years, this idea has become the bankable logic that has driven many of the revivals seen in Melbourne's larger venues. Nevin's production of The Mousetrap is one example. But 2024 also saw revivals of A Woman in Black, Gaslight and the annual A Christmas Carol carve out a little West End corner in our nation's stages. Economically, this trend makes sense. These aren't spectacle-heavy productions that require big budgets, and they still have enough cultural clout to ensure good ticket sales. Producers of plays don't have a pool of jukebox musicals or film adaptations to choose from like their musical counterparts. If they want to bring a play to one of our larger venues, it seems they have two options: an Arthur Miller revival or a classic British thriller. With this production of And Then There Were None you can feel this trend nearing its end. It's not that we expect modern takes of these slices of theatrical history. But we can tell when fidelity is used as a crouch to avoid doing more with them. Reverence doesn't need to be an excuse for laziness. This is Christie's best novel, but for all its thrilling twists and still enlivening themes, you won't come out of this show thinking it's her best play. I came out of it feeling nothing but the sense that an opportunity to do something more with it had ultimately been wasted.
