The Mirror Crack'd

The Mirror Crack’d a play, drama staged by St Ambrose Players at The Halls 4 All, Moss Lane, Leyland on Friday 27th February 2026.

This new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery, was penned and adapted for stage by Rachel Wagstaffe. This amended version adds psychological depth plus some twists and turns to the original storyline, but keeps very much to the original narrative. Set in the 1960’s; a wind of change is blowing through the land and it’s even reached the sleepy village of St. Mary Mead. A new housing estate is being built which gets the villagers a little fearful, even more so when a rich American film star Marina Gregg arrives in the village and buys the historic Gossington Hall!  However, the Hollywood glitter quickly diminishes when a woman dies after drinking a poisoned cocktail at a party hosted by Marina. Miss Marple, confined to her home after an accident, is drawn into the investigation, patching together some dark secrets and clues from her armchair.... can anything be hidden from this ‘sweet old lady’ with a ‘mind as sharp as a viper’ ... I think not!

Production Team...  the experienced David White (Director), assisted by Mac McCormack (Assistant Director) were the people charged with bringing this production to stage. In David’s programme notes, we’re told that St Ambrose Players chose this play as a small way to celebrate the work of Agatha Christie and as a reminder of her death fifty years previously. David and Mac had pulled together an enthusiast and experienced cast, who were well rehearsed and enjoying everything that David and Mac had thrown at them. I spoke with David pre show and it was obvious from our conversation that David was a real lover of Agatha Christie’s work. It was also obvious from his words, that this hadn’t been the easiest of plays to stage, especially with the slightly different styles and the added problems encountered with the ‘staging and enacting of the flashback scenes’ ... but, if my opinion is anything to go by... those concerns and difficulties were overcome to great effect and appreciated by those present!

The Cast... a cast of thirteen took to the stage to present this adapted version of ‘The Mirror Crack’d’. I felt that this version of the play, placed great emphasis on the backstories of the characters portraying them through ‘flashbacks’, which I felt, over the course of the evening, had some pluses and minuses and it did take me a little while to work out what was actually happening, but once I got to grips with the flashbacks, the flow and intricacies of the play ...  I really did think it all worked very well and I really did enjoy the outcome.
The cast included...
Siobhan Edge as ‘Miss Marple’ ; Frank Duxbury as ‘Chief Inspector Craddock’;
Alison Griffith-Barnes as ‘Marina Gregg’; Paul Regan as ‘Jason Rudd’;
Louise Taylor as ‘Dolly Bantry’; Sarah White as ‘Lola Brewster’;
Grace Davies as ‘Cherry Baker’; Aneta Paruk as Ella Zielinsky;
Jonathon Holmes as ‘Giuseppe Renzo’; Donna Keller as ‘Heather Leigh’;  
Mac McCormack as ‘Cyril Leigh and Adam Cruickshank as ‘Assistant Director’
Kieron Alami as the ‘Cameraman’. 
As most will know, this is where I would usually ‘stick the old neck out’ and start selecting MY favourite characters, but what struck me from the beginning and throughout this play, was that we didn’t really have, an ‘individual star’ as such, the success of this play was built around the strength and relationships created and developed between all the characters!  I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Miss Marple (Siobhan) and Chief Inspector Craddock (Frank) which it would appear started way back in Craddock’s youth... their portrayals felt real and amusing at times! Alison and Paul (Marina and Jason) also provided us with an intriguing couple, the faded film star and the flamboyant director husband...  I loved the chemistry and the mystery between them... a love/hate possibly!  Their employees ... Secretary - Ella and Butler - Giuseppe played by Aneta and Jonathon... gave us a fitting combination of credibility and secrecy, just to a add a little more to the intrigue and to keep us all guessing!  Louise did a great job portraying Miss Marple’s friend and ex owner of the manor house ... Dolly Bantry, as did Sarah and her portrayal of Lola Brewster ... wow, two more possible suspects, the plot thickens! Mac and Heather gave us two great characters playing the ‘Leighs’ Cyril and Heather; they brought a great deal of unexpected humour to the piece... Mac really did make me laugh! Grace did a wonderful job creating the new Home Help for Miss Marple ... Cherry Baker. Cherry, also had one or two secrets to hide and was another to add to the list of ‘who did it’!  Last but not least, Adam and Kieron played the ‘Assistant Director’ and ‘Cameraman’ in the play within the play!

Staging/Set/Tech... as ever... the ‘Wizards of St Ambrose’ had worked their spell on this set, which worked ever so well. Entrances/exits all worked extremely well.  Loved the window rear centre stage which had so much going on both inside and outside... once again its congrats to Graham Forrest (Stage Manager) and his ‘Crew’ Steven Barnes, Martin Dempsey, Paul Gregson and Gordon Manly with Paul Gregson adding so much with ‘paint and brush’.

Sound was good throughout being looked after by David Smith. 

Lighting... under the watchful eye of the ever-present Stephen Porter was ‘spot on’, although, and not knowing the capabilities of the lighting system etc... if it was possible to fully darken one side of the stage when the other was being used... if that makes sense, would I think have helped me understand the paly and the flashbacks a little earlier!  We had a couple of scenes early on, when stage left was being used and stage right wasn’t ... I think this was one of the things that confused me... because stage left was semi lit, I wasn’t sure who was actually in the scene... if that makes sense!  Once I got my head round the facts, it became much less of a problem!

Wardrobe... costumes were fabulous of the era and enhanced the production ever so much provided by the cast.

Props... again first rate, used well under the watchful eye of David White and Kieron Alami.

From the applause at the end from the full house assembled, I would suggest that the play had been enjoyed by all present.  It was also nice to be back ‘home’ at ‘Halls 4 all’ although the Methodist Church had been a lovely substitute venue ... but there’s nowhere like home!

Thanks for inviting my wife and I, we thoroughly enjoyed the performance, it really is always a pleasure to see you guys perform!

 Stay Safe, Keep well
“Stronger Together”

Jim Briscoe,
NODA NW
District 6 Rep 

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