Death on the Nile
Style with Guile
Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie, adapted by Ken Ludwig
Fiery Angel at Richmond Theatre until 11th October, then on tour until 23rd May 2026
Review by Polly Davies
A very happy audience left Richmond Theatre at the end of the entertaining and eventful Death on the Nile last night. Stylish and eventful, Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the well-known Agatha Christie novel keeps the essential elements of Christie’s story, but with a clever prequel, and a degree of simplification. Lucy Bailey’s nicely paced direction builds up the tension from a gentle love story to a murder, with lots of excitement in between. There are thrills a plenty as grudges are revealed, guns are shot, relationships form, and fraud is suspected. If you are like me and had forgotten the denouement it was a genuine mystery.
In this adaptation, a group of donors to the British Museum join an expedition to return an Egyptian sarcophagus to its home in Egypt. The ingenious set takes us from rainy English station to Egypt via a party at the museum without interruption. Once in Egypt we are aboard a totally convincing luxurious river cruise ship, alternately gazing across the land from a breezy upper deck, gathering in the salon, or peeking inside the cabins. And a clever ghostly procession of possible murderers behind a cabin screen presages the actual deed. Thanks to Mike Britton’s design and Oliver Fenwick’s atmospheric lighting these transitions take us effortlessly from scene to scene in the sultry tropical landscape which is the perfect setting for Christie’s whodunnit.
This plucky band of travellers includes a young couple on honeymoon, an aspiring actress and her daughter, an ageing, once famous actor, the museum director and his son, an ex-diplomat, now working for MI5, and a Belgian detective. Once in Egypt they are joined by a Canadian lawyer and a very unwelcome previous lover of the groom.
Many in the audience will probably know Hercule Poirot on the TV rather than from the books. Tonight, Mark Hadfield makes a lovely Poirot, enough of a hint of David Suchet to be totally recognisable, but Mark makes him very much his own character, funny and kind, but still clearly making the most of the little grey cells. He leads us through the plot, slowly uncovering the tensions that exist between the characters, gently trying to steer them away from the inevitable. I enjoyed Glynis Barber’s aspiring creative Salome Otterbourne, abandoning her pushy mother role as she latches onto Terence Wilton’s cynical national treasure Septimus Troy. What wonderful names Christie chose for her characters!
Libby Alexander-Cooper and Esme Hough charm and loathe each other appropriately, as Linnet and Jacqueline the apparent rivals for the love of Nye Occomore’s Simon Doyle, providing some high emotion and an impressive fight scene. Camilla Anvar and Nicholas Prasad are charming as the ingénue lovers getting together in the midst of all this mayhem, and we are treated to the inevitable but delightful salon scene as Poirot gathers the remaining characters together to reveal the murderer and the motive.
And then there are the costumes, glorious dresses for the young rivals, – who could doubt that Linnet would successfully seduce her friend’s fiancé in that outfit. Rosalie’s understated clothes, glorious wafty creations and a splendid hat for Salome, Bob Barrett’s convincing diplomat, enhanced with a sash at dinner, and everyone period perfect.
Death on the Nile makes a very enjoyable evening.
Polly Davies, October 2025
Photography by Manuel Harlan
Mark Aspen 