An old style murder mystery is always thrilling. Add in a fantastic modern set and it’s a winner all round.
Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express dates back to 1934, but with a fresh eye, adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig and directed by Lucy Bailey, the show is fast moving, intriguing and has a dash of comedy thrown in too.
Famous Belgian (not French!) detective Hercule Poirot (wonderfully played by Michael Maloney) boards The Orient Express at the invitation of its director, Monsieur Bouc (Bob Barrett) after a pretty intense few weeks of sleuthing.
He joins a party of fellow guests in first class. A mixed bunch with quirky personalities, from Countess Elena Andrenyi (Mila Carter), who Poirot has a soft spot for, to Greta Ohlsson (Rebecca Charles), Samuel Ratchett (Simon Cotton), Helen Hubbard (Christine Kavanagh), Hector MacQueen (Paul Keating), Mary Debenham (Iniki Mariano) and The Colonel (Rishi Rian).
They are all looked after by the conductor Michel (Jean-Baptiste Fillon) and settle down in their sumptuous carriages for a long journey.
But as the night wears on, the snow falls, and the train gets stuck in a huge drift and comes to a stop. It’s then that a murder is discovered, with Ratchett found covered in blood and stabbed to death in his cabin.
And so the fun and games start, as Poirot uses his formidable skills to unravel quite a mystery, which is all linked to the sinister murder of a young girl, Daisy Armstrong many years ago.
Revenge is on the cards from the murderer (or is it murderers!) and the production revolves round the differing mysteries of each guest and their links.
All the actors are excellent, especially Maloney and the audience at The King’s Theatre in Glasgow was on the edge of their seats throughout.
Designer Mike Britton and company stage manager, Siân Wiggins’s fabulous train stage is helped along with video and sounds of trains by Ian William Galloway and Mic Pool.
It’s an old-fashioned story, shaken up and transformed into a sleek, modern showstopper!
Murder on the Orient Express runs until Saturday 12th October at The King’s Theatre and then moves to The Festival Theatre in Edinburgh from 22nd to 26th October 2024 and then around the UK, finishing at The Everyman in Cheltenham from 23rd April until 3rd May 2025. For ticket information, please visit: www.atgtickets.com.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.
Photographs courtesy of Murder on the Orient Express
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