And Then There Were None

Now this is right up my street, a good murder mystery by the mistress herself, Agatha Christie together with a visit to the lovely little intimate TADS theatre in Toddington. And what an excellent evening’s entertainment it turned out to be.

We were warmly greeted at the door and shown to our seats by ‘Rogers the butler’ himself in full 1930’s evening dress, before he retired back stage for the opening scene. Spiffing stuff!

AFDS are a small versatile group who are very adept at covering for each other at a moment’s notice. For example, the absence of a crew member on the night we saw it had one of the actors helping with lighting, so one of the lighting crew could run the bar, then swapping back for the final bow. All smoothly done without the audience suspecting a thing. Many of the cast also had backstage or production duties as well.  A grass roots drama group operating at its best!

The closed tabs before curtain up were projected with a macabre image of a noose, neatly setting the scene. When the curtain opened it revealed a full box set complete with French windows leading to an outside path, enabling exits to either side, and a splendidly painted backdrop by Natalie Shearer of the sea and rugged Devon coastal outline of Soldier Island, upon which the protagonists were trapped so the dastardly deeds could take place. The interior with period wallpapered flats on either side had several door exits leading to the kitchen, the bedrooms and the rest of the house. I was however a little surprised that there weren’t any blacks at the top of the flats to close the set off.

The furniture consisted of a fireplace with mantelpiece, upon which the ten soldier dolls were placed, a sofa, a chaise longue, several chairs and a prominent drinks table, which was well used by the actors throughout, as demanded by most plays of that period. Props being well sourced by Sarah Benjamin. The TADS stage is however quite small and fitting such an opulent set and eleven actors on to it was a tad crowded. But there is of course nothing  they could do about it. So well done to stage manager Natalie Shearer on what I’m told was basically a one woman effort. That deserves a huge round of applause in its own right!

Lighting and sound by Paul Horsler, Sam Kenealy and Claire Wilden washed the set very well completing the atmosphere. I did think the sound of the sea which opened the first act could however have been slowly faded rather than ending abruptly. It needs to be so that the audience doesn’t notice its eventual absence and the atmosphere created is maintained.

Alistair Kelly as Rogers was resplendent in his butler outfit and fitted the part perfectly, with just the right amount of deportment, bowing and scraping to his more upper crust guests. He was suitably kept on his toes by Natalie Shearer as his wife Mrs Rogers, busying herself as the cook.

Our director, Carmel Byrne herself stepped in at the last minute to fulfil the role of boatman Fred Narracott, and I have to say she absolutely nailed it playing this male part. The attire and the accent with suitably deep voice were spot on and her delivery brought a welcome spot of humour to proceedings.

Hansani Jayawardana as the secretary Vera Claythorne played the part well getting more agitated and nervous as the action unfolded. And as for that scream, its still ringing in my ears as I write this. Nice job!

Aldo Saralli as Phillip Lombard was seriously creepy at times as he made unwanted advances on Vera and certainly had me fooled as (spoiler alert) he turned out to be the hero not the villain. Nice red herring,

Sam Kenealy as Anthony Marston should come out from the backstage more often, as he probably nailed the demeanour, voice and attitude of the 1930’s better than anybody else. His facial expressions had that ‘jolly wizard old boy,’ look about him.

Josh Rush as William Blore certainly had that detective, ex police stance and look. As he was unmasked from pretend South African to ex copper I thought, Ah, now that makes sense, he has that look about him. Brilliantly put across.

Kelvin Horton in his kilt as General Horton was the doddery old soldier to a tee! You couldn’t really cast him better.

Now, Sarah Benjamin as Emily Brent, the stuck up, moralistic, sour faced guest played it so coldly when bodies were falling all around her that for a long time I had her down as our murderer, devoid of sympathy. That smokescreen certainly had me fooled.

On the other hand, David Hillman as Sir Lawrence Wargrave really did have me fooled, playing it straight as a die and had every bit the stature and demur of a high court judge, fitting the part perfectly and didn’t give a thing away. Clever piece of portrayal.

Helen Morris as Dr Armstong, a specialist Neurologist, provided the proceedings with a calm professional air as she pronounced each guest’s demise as dead bodies piled up around her until her time came – spoiler!

My minor criticism, if I may offer a bit of advice was movement round the stage, especially on this crowded set. I was taught, if you don’t have a reason to move, don’t, but speeches were often delivered whilst wandering around, which led to a lot of blocking of other characters and at one point every character except the seated general were in a line stage right blocking each other. And it would be remiss of me not to mention that the pace did drop on quite a few occasions creating pregnant pauses when prompts were needed.  But we have all been there, so my sympathy on that one.

So, my congratulations to Carmel Byrne on making a pretty good fist of her first go at directing, with a large cast on a small busy stage, with a complicated set. I came out with a big smile having thoroughly enjoyed an evening watching an Agatha Christie being brought to life. Well done! And a superb tableau for the final bow as well!

Finally, thank you to the FOH and bar staff for their kind hospitality.

 

 

 

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