The Mirror Crack’d

I do enjoy Agatha Christie plays, and I have not seen this one, so it was another pleasure not to know how it ends!

I found it a little difficult to understand the dialogue at the beginning of the play. It took me a while to ‘tune in’ to the sound levels.   No mics were used, which is commendable, and the theatre does have good acoustics.  But when we are all used to enhanced speech in the theatre, it takes a bit of adjustment.  That was a shame as I am sure that I missed some crucial clues!   Fortunately, the way the play is structured, with flashbacks, I was able to catch up with some of the dialogue.  The problem with a play containing such a lot of flashbacks is that it can affect the pace.  In this case it felt a little bit stilted.

All the cast produced good characterisations with Jane Sinclair as the quintessential Miss Marple and, as the play progressed, her sharp observations and character assessments were spot on.  Jess Hughes produced a beautifully balanced performance as Marina Gregg, the actress central to the plot, with a nice range of emotions.   Julie Moss was lovely as the eccentric Dolly Bantry, not an easy character to play but done very well.   Jasmine Nash (Cherry Baker) was good, although she rushed her lines a little bit which, when added to the aforementioned difficulties in hearing the text, was a bit of a shame. 

Emma Croft played Lola Brewster with great style, never once deviating from the characters poise and personal presentation.  Sarah Brodie (Ella Zielinsky) had some lovely facial expressions and body language which conveyed what the character was really thinking despite her words.  Julia Harman played the victim, Heather Leigh, and it was different to have her performing throughout the play and not dying at the beginning.  I did miss her crucial line which gave a big clue quite early on in the play but, as I have already said, the flashbacks gave us the opportunity to hear it a few more times so I did catch on eventually!

The male performers were all very good, especially Rory Griffin (Cyril Leigh) whose body language beautifully conveyed the character with hardly a word spoken, until the end.  Phil Cockell (Chief Inspector Craddock was exactly as one thinks the character should be and his exasperation with Miss Marple was well portrayed.  Hugh Weller-Poley played the star’s husband Jason Rudd and had me thinking he had to be the killer right until we found out he wasn’t!  Daniel Greenwood produced a finely observed performance as Giuseppe Renzo, the long-term confidante of Marina Gregg.  A nicely held accent throughout.

I think a murder mystery needs to include the audience in what is going on, so they are invested in the final outcome.   Overall, the play felt a bit detached from the audience, this was especially noticeable with the cast often speaking sideways on to the audience.  It is a tricky balance to perform realistically and yet still allow the audience in.  However, it was still a good evening’s entertainment.

The scenery was effective, and I particularly liked the way the cast did the scene change, making it part of the play.  Costumes were well researched and right for the period and the lighting and incidental music was spot on.

As always, we were well looked after by Mel Barnes, thank you for a lovely evening.

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