When Agatha Christie says: ‘And Then There Were None’, you had better be afraid, be very afraid…
(Pictures by Pamela Raith Photography)
So you think you know how an Agatha Christie plot gets resolved do you?
M. Poirot, a dapper, moustachioed Belgian detective with an abnormally large number of leetle grey cells, unmasks the murderer by a process of extraordinary deduction?
Or Miss Marple knits her way to solving a dastardly crime because an old friend of the sweet, grey-haired old lady had a cat that behaved in exactly the same way?
Well now you can think again.
And Then There Were None is the Queen of Crime at her darkest and most chilling. It’s also the most popular work of Christie’s long and brilliant career. But in the case of the ten invited guests on a remote, storm-lashed island off the coast of Devon, help from any quarter is not at hand or even on the cards.
With their host, an eccentric millionaire, missing and a recorded message accusing each of them of having a guilty secret, one by one the visitors begin to die. With only the victims believed to be innocent, who amongst those who are left can be the killer? The list of suspects shrinks with every new murder.
The Agatha Christie Theatre Company has assembled a stellar cast of actors for this, their 10th anniversary production.
Paul Nicholas, star of the BBC sitcom, Just Good Friends, first made his name onstage as the original Jesus, in Jesus Christ Superstar. Since then he has appeared in the West End on countless occasions but, later this year, he will be back on TV in Eastenders, playing Gavin Sullivan, the estranged husband of the long presumed dead, Kathy Beale.
Verity Rushworth recently won ‘Best Scene’ at the UK Soap Awards for her dramatic exit (off a very tall building) in Emmerdale.
Emmerdale co-star Frazer Hines, Soldier Soldier’s Ben Nealon, and Susan Penhaligon who starred in Bouquet of Barbed Wire are all lined up to be either Christie’s victims or murderer, as is former Blue Peter presenter, Mark Curry.
Colin Buchanan, best known for playing D.I. Pascoe for eleven years in the hit BBC television series Dalziel and Pascoe, takes on the role of a retired police inspector – but when it comes to Agatha Christie nobody is ultimately to be trusted (unless it’s a pint-sized, moustache-sporting Belgian detective).
Then There Were None is at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 25th July (Matinees on Wednesday & Saturday)
Box Office: 0844 871 7652 or online www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes
It takes a few minutes to get into this period piece, but once you do this strong cast keep you gripped all the way to the unhappy conclusion. If you like a whodunnit this is probably Agatha Christie’s most popular. An ingenious plot that really keeps you guessing until the final moments!
