Decades before television began its Survivor reality competition, there was British author Agatha Christie, the prolific writer of detective novels and murder mystery plays whose works often featured isolated settings and ever increasing dead body counts.
Alley Theatre has once more tapped into the almost endless wealth of material Christie left behind to present the classic play And Then There Were None (1943) based on her 1939 book of the same title as this year’s Summer Chills feature.
Alley Company member Elizabeth Bunch portrays Mrs. Rogers, one of the 10 strangers assembled on a remote island, staying in a cliffside house. Everyone has secrets and guilt. “She is a fun character because she’s very reactive. “
Bunch was surprised by the similarities between And Then There Were None and the play Clue by Sandy Ruston which the Alley did just two summers ago. Clue, part campy sendup, was based in part on the board game Clue which was based in part on And Then There Were None.
A veteran of several Summer Chills, Bunch said And Then There Were None strikes a different tone. “It feels really different than the Agatha Christie I’ve done before. It’s a little darker and a little creepier.” While other Christie plays seem more character driven, this one delves more into guilt and psychosis, she said.
But some common patterns emerge. Christie often liked adding to the pressure of her mysterious by placing her characters in isolated settings. In Death on the Nile they were on a boat. In Murder on the Orient Express it was a train. In The Unexpected Guest, a driver goes to a house (isolated!) and becomes more or less trapped by bad weather. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is set in an isolated country manor.
The ten strangers have been invited to a remote island by a mysterious and absent host. The host, Mr. Owen, accuses each of them of murder.
Christie never cheated in her books or plays and that’s a large part of her immense appeal, Bunch said. “She’ll give you red herrings. But she doesn’t cheat in terms of leaving things out. How can you not be engaged?. There is an answer; there is something to solve.
“There is a game to watching these plays. That’s the thing I always love. She doesn’t cheat. She gives you the clues in the game. You’ve got a good chance of solving it.”
Other cast members include Resident Acting Company members Dylan Godwin as Philip Lombard, Chris Hutchison as Dr. Armstrong, Melissa Molano as Vera Claythorne, David Rainey as Sir Lawrence Wargrave, Christopher Salazar as William Blore and Todd Waite as General MacKenzie.
Also, Susan Koozin (Pictures from Home, Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Soprano, Clue) as Emily Brent, Spencer Plachy (The Man Who Came to Dinner) as Rogers, and Gabriel Regojo (Jane Eyre, Sense and Sensibility) as Fred Narracott/ Anthony Marston. Elizabeth Williamson (New York’s Geva Theatre artistic director) directs
“An intense amount of crafting,” goes into these plays on the part of the actors and director, Bunch said. That’s because Christie sometimes “has little holes” in her stories that the production has to make up for, Bunch said. And Christie demands that even if you’re not the main villain, if there are some bad aspects to your character “you have to be willing to show ugliness,” she said.
All of which “engages us as actors. All of us are Sherlock Holmes. We’re working with the director to make sure all the holes are covered. These shows are not about trap doors and rain walls. These are people talking to each other and working through a problem.”
Besides the fun opportunity to solve a murder mystery, Summer Chills offers audiences one more plus, Bunch said.
“I think people are always happy to get out of the summer heat and see people in sweaters and tweed vests,”
Performances are scheduled to continue through September 1, with Opening Night July 24. AT 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $32-$110.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
