Witness for the Prosecution

This courtroom drama is  Agatha Christie at her best. A gripping story with a clever twist in the tail beautifully worked. I will not explain it so as not to spoil the enjoyment of future audiences.   Surprisingly though this is the first time Deben Players have ever performed one of her works in the whole of their  59 year history.

As we take our seats we are transported into an impressive courtroom.  All designed and constructed in house.  The judge  sat at a higher level and above his head was a brilliant  large crest of the Royal Coat of Arms that appears in all court rooms.   It all looked incredibly realistic. The jury were then lead in following the clerk of the court.   At every performance audience members were asked if they would like to act as part of the jury and they were sat to one side of the stage.

Some of the leading characters had an incredible amount of difficult dialogue as they play out the questioning in the courtroom and all deserve praise.  Leonard Vole was played by Dominic Swain,  the defendant. He had befriended a rich widow and was accused of her murder in an attempt to inherit her fortune.  He seemed confused and bewildered at being named as a suspect when he had an alibi, but it was all a cunning plot to deceive us and he played it  very well.

Sir Wilfred Robarts QC (Rob Backhouse) was defending him and was vigorous in trying to convince the judge and jury of his client’s innocence. Miss Myers QC (Hazel Killner) was prosecuting and cross questioned the witnesses with determination. Both were very animated in their gestures and were suitably impressive in trying to establish the facts of the case. They must have put a lot of thought and study into their characterisations and it paid off.

The Judge, Mr Justice Wainwright  was portrayed by Peter Wintgens and captured the role perfectly. Seemingly quite doddery, but in fact completely in charge of the situation. Rachel Keveren played Romaine who was supposedly the wife of Leonard Vole.  She captured her feisty character perfectly and kept up her accent throughout. Grant Filshill was Sir Wilfred’s Chief Clerk  and Andy Kimber, Solicitor for the defendant and both played good supporting roles. There was also quite a large cast of court officials, warders and those giving evidence. They all had paid good attention to detail in their characterisations  and came across as very realistic and believable.

The  production team had really gone  all out to make this as impressive as possible and all credit to them. The costumes including the wigs and gowns all added perfectly to this typical courtroom drama as did the sound and lighting. 

It was so good to see a packed house and I was told, all the houses were virtually full.  This Agatha Christie certainly pulled in the crowds and helped to put some funds back in the bank after all that had gone on in the past couple of years.

 This was Peter Mason’s first time as director for Deben Players having  moved from Essex where he had honed his craft. I’m sure it won’t be his last as he can be proud of directing this  production and how all  his cast and crew  gelled together convincingly.  They  certainly kept the  audience on the edge of their seats.  Well done to you all.

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