Towards Zero

It’s always a pleasure to see a drama based on a book by the marvellous British legend that is Agatha Christie. Her stories are just as loved and read today as when they were first published and are popular throughout the world.They still deliver first rate entertainment for an audience and this play adapted from the book “Towards Zero” published  by Christie’s in 1944 and adapted into a play by Gerald Verner with the help of Christie herself in 1956 was no exception.This nail-biting thriller, was full of tension, mystery, wrongful accusations of theft, secrets and plot twists that kept you on the edge of your seat trying to work out who done it. The story is set in a cliff top country house called Gull’s Point located in Saltcreek on the coast of Cornwall, where a house party is being held hosted by the owner of the house, Lady Tressilian (Veronica Teesdale) and responsible for most of the arrangements is her assistant and general dogsbody Mary Aldin (Louise Steggals).  Among the guest is Tennis star, Nevile Strange (Stuart Crompton), a former ward of Lady Tressilian's deceased husband, along with his present wife Kay (Emma Appleton), however things become complicated and difficult as Nevile’s first wife Audrey (Julia Walsh) is also currently a house guests, along with family solicitor Malcolm Treves (David Hodgkinson). Another guest Thomas Royde (John Dudley) has just arrived back in the country after years away in Malaysia with hopes of marrying Audrey Strange resulting in some romantic confusion. Kay has a friend called Ted Latimer(James Walters) who is staying at the hotel across the bay from Gull’s Point, which is an important piece of information for the plot. He is included with the party as a dinner guest, but  questions are formed Just where does he fit in? Is he having an affair with Kay? Things come to a head when there is a savage and brutal murder, and the services of  Superintendent Battle (Peter Hall) are called upon to try and catch the culprit. Battle was on holiday nearby with his nephew Inspector Leach (Craig Pinnington) and with the help of P.C.Benson (Ian Trumble) they set about sifting through all the evidence as guilt shifts form one to the other of the characters, however there is a final twist before the case is solved.  

Director Bill Collins had gathered together a talented group of actors who brought all the different characters to life. It was truly an ensemble cast all  working together, complimenting each other nicely with no weak links. The interaction between the characters was excellent, which is very important  as it drives the pace and the development of the storyline and also helps to inform the audience and keep them engaged with the action on the stage.  This was a cast of eleven and I would love to mention each performance, however they were all very accomplished in their roles and it could be said that they all produced stand out performances with good diction, projection and pace, meaning dialogue could be followed easily. However Emma Appleton was spot on with her characterisation of Kay Strange, who thought there was something not quite right even before the murder and David Hodgkinson rose to the challenge in the key role of Malcolm Treves, as his lines were very important to the development of the plot. Stuart Crompton made a very convincing Nevile  and Veronica Teesdale certainly looked and acted the part as Lady Tressilian, her character was humourless and very direct but Veronica delivered her characters blunt lines with aplomb. Julia Walsh as Nevile’s first wife Audrey also had her character just right, you could feel her unease about the situation all throughout the play.

The set was very skilfully designed  by Peter Hall and was dressed beautifully bringing authenticity to the production and added to the atmosphere as we were taken into the living room of a country house. Well done to Stage Manager Joey Wiswell and all the set builders, painters, properties, backstage crew and the prompt.The costumes by Stacey Vernon were bright and colourful they suited the characters nicely helping to give authenticity to the production. There was good quality Lighting and sound, Agatha Christie plays usually have blackouts in-between scenes so to help set the mood for this production, an appropriate choice of tense atmospheric thriller music was played during the blackouts. 

In the end all the clues are put together, everything becomes clear and the Killer is identified.Congratulations to everybody involved in bringing this excellent production to the stage, it was a very enjoyable evenings entertainment. Thank you very much for inviting us we had a lovely evening.

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