And Then There Were None

Spectacle of Storms and Sherry

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie

Fiery Angel, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and ROYO at Richmond Theatre, until 4^th November, then on tour until 13^th April 2024

Review by Eleanor Lewis

For the British there are few places more appropriate to be transported away to on a rainy Hallowe’en night than a small, difficult-to-get-to island off the coast of Britain where ten strangers are about to meet their untimely deaths in very mysterious circumstances, which means of course an Agatha Christie.

The current production of And Then There Were None at Richmond is the collected work of a team of talented designers and producers whose ability to create a theatrical ‘wow factor’ is indisputable.  One of Director Lucy Bailey’s most recent productions for example is the much admired Witness for the Prosecution, now in its sixth year, staged not in the West End but at County Hall in London,.

And Then There Were None, however, is a difficult book to translate from page to stage, Christie herself struggled with the adaptation.  Designer Mike Britton has met part of the challenge with a huge and striking art deco set, which provides the walls but no more of a large mansion disappearing upwards into swirling clouds, or sea.  Floating gauze curtains, through which actors move from room to room, echo the sea and the coming storm, (and the approaching war) and create a sense of flux, the idea that nothing, including the lives of the house guests, is stable.  As a set it is stylish and imposing, but it rather dominates.  (It also needs management in order to avoid small but difficult Morecambe and Wise moments when the gap in the gauze through which to enter or leave, can’t be found).

Against this impressive background, sometimes almost absorbed by it, eleven actors assemble as stock Christie characters: a general, a doctor, a secretary amongst others, and provide suitably 1939-type mannered performances, until they begin to keel over one by one.  As an ensemble piece, this is a team effort which works well.  Lucy Tregear as Rogers and Andrew Lancel as William Blore inject small but welcome moments of light humour.  Sophie Walter as Vera Claythorne achieves a nicely balanced 1930s woman with an air of future feminist about her.  Katy Stephens as Emily Brent is entertainingly ‘buttoned up’ and David Yelland as Judge Wargrave is a reassuring, steadying presence.

The descent of the remaining characters into a Lord of the Flies existential panic as their number is reduced in Act Two is engaging, tense and enhanced by the inclusion of Ayse Tashkiran’s small, frenzied bursts of movement as if the characters cannot physically contain their fear.  Elizabeth Purnell’s music and sound, together with Chris Davey’s lighting, add an almost planetary element to the proceedings and make Richmond stage seem a great deal bigger than it is.

Agatha Christie’s stories are puzzles which many of her readers like to try and solve.  Theatre is a visual form though, and books adapted for stage almost always need visual impact.  And Then There Were None is no exception and this creates its own issues.  In this production, on the table throughout is an ornamental sculpture of ten glass soldiers.  The ten are reduced, by clever, imperceptible means, each time a character is murdered.  It’s a great thing, but it draws attention.  And again, there is something of a spectacle in the final scene but, such is the nature of the spectacle, that it almost certainly involves most of the audience wondering how it is to be achieved, swiftly followed by most of the audience understanding how it is to be achieved, both of which significantly distract from the spectacle itself. 

This production has a vastness to it which rather overshadows the actors valiantly working their way through it.  Still in the early stages of its tour, however, as time goes on this strong cast will almost certainly make their presence more keenly felt.  It is an interesting, atmospheric production, a reliable mystery for an autumn night.

Eleanor Lewis, November 2023

Photography by Manuel Harlan