Slipping into detective mode with ‘And Then There Were None’
A child’s nursery rhyme – simple in form, yet deadly in consequence – forms the quaintly chilling script on which a self-proclaimed homicidal maniac masterminds his final, most bloody killing spree.
Dame Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’ is characterised by its bizarre paradoxes of sometimes-comic gore and genteel mayhem. Some clever use of lighting and sounds, and Cold Theatre 7 achieved just the right feel for this, its debut public production. The director, Kevin Cruze, and his production team certainly made some wise choices.
Pic by Shehal Joseph
Apart from reasoning out who ‘dun it’, busily counting the fast-depleting row of ten soldier figurines on a mantelpiece and bemusedly coming to grips with the implications of the sinister little rhyme repeated through the play, the audience did not have to deal with the obviously gruesome scene of a typical whodunit. Instead, we were treated to a mature depiction of the scene at soldier Island – aesthetically pleasing and with interesting attention to detail.
A well-executed rendition of the Ten Little Soldier Boys rhyme by the Old Joes Choir set the tone nicely for what was to follow, but neither the initial drama nor the performances that enacted it could sustain sufficient momentum. While the opening scenes of the play, though interesting enough, drag with somewhat dull introductory material. The pace dropped, accents lapsed, and accounts of the elusive Mr. Owen were repeated one too many times.
The strength of Christie’s writing and the natural tendency of the audience to slip into detective mode from the word go, together kept interests piqued. What the initial stages of the performance lacked in momentum, the second half compensated, picking up speed and tension with each new murder.
The 10 victims, all unknown to each other, gather at the invitation of a mysterious host none of them seem to know. Not long after they arrive, a message via an extremely fuzzy record player accuses each person of murder.
Although shaken, the guests mostly ignore this message at first. However, their guilt is unceremoniously brought to the forefront as each begins to meet the death dictated by the rhyme. (Kudos to the cast for the slick disposal of each figurine as the murders took place. The absence was not noticed until nervously pointed out by the diminishing number of survivors.)
Sachintha Dias, Dino Corera and Anuk De Silva stood out in their roles of Phillip Lombard, William Blore and Dr. Edward Armstrong, respectively, each contributing in different ways to the inevitable suspense of the play’s final stages. In refreshing contrast to the panic exuded by his fellow victims, Sachintha in particular did justice to the role of Lombard, with his brash persona and devil-may-care admittance to the crime he was accused of, also effectively enacting the surprise element to his character at the very end.
Although one of Christie’s most famous mystery stories, ‘And Then There Were None’ is by no means the typical takes-you-completely-by-surprise stumper. Each would-be suspect is weeded out by process of elimination – in this case, death, and as each ‘soldier’ falls, it grows increasingly clear that, for the purpose of drama and the sake of all good whodunits, the culprit cannot be the last one standing. Chrishan Silva, in his role as the crusty Justice Lawrence Wargrave, left subtle clues in his speech and actions: his judicial experience-born knowledge of the criminal mind and interrogation of suspects, not to mention his absolute lack of surprise at Vera Claythorne’s panic at the supposed attack levelled at her. Whether these details were on purpose or not is unclear, but the debate is pleasantly intriguing all the same.
As a whole, Cold Theatre 7’s take on Agatha Christie, did not by any means disappoint, on the strength of a few lead actors, who (until certain clues presented themselves to the more observant members of the audience) left us actively speculating and suspecting for a greater part of the performance.
(This review is based on the performance of November 2, 2013.)