REVIEW: Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express at Mayflower Theatre

I do love a game of Cluedo! ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ is the latest murder mystery from Agatha Christie to find its way onto Mayflower’s stage, and it really will leave you thinking, “who did it?”. ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ is arguably one of Christie’s most famous pieces of work with a twist ending that’s up there as one of the greatest in the literary world. From book, to small screen, to big screen, and stage - this story is one that stretches to almost every format and it works in all of them! Returning as Director for her third Agatha Christie (after ‘And Then There Were None’ and ‘Witness for the Prosecution’) is Lucy Bailey. The direction and movement again is something that is key in both directing audience attention, as well as misdirecting audience attention. Definitely important for a murder mystery! I was again going into this one with no idea of the story, and I kind of think that’s the best way you can enter a story like this. There was lots of information to take on and with this, pacing was a worry of mine whilst needing to retain attention throughout.

You may know this story from the 2017 Hollywood movie adaptation starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer, but if you don’t, I’ll give you a quick spoiler free rundown. The story follows a group of strangers and the renowned detective ‘Hercule Poirot’, who all end up on the famous ‘Orient Express’ before it suddenly gets stopped dead in an avalanche (excuse the pun). Now comes the ‘murder’ part of the title. So there’s been a murder, the train has stopped, and there is a train full of suspects that have nowhere to go. This of course only leaves one question, “who dunnit?”. Usually with these sorts of stories I have an inkling of who it might be, but by the interval I only had suspicions. But in pure Agatha Christie style, you will be constantly changing your mind and opinions before that big reveal!

The cast for this play again is only small, but they all play their roles brilliantly. One thing I didn’t expect to be doing tonight was laughing, but Ken Ludwig (playwright who adapted the story for the stage), has filtered so much comedy in without it feeling cheesy or forced. One person who really stood out was Michael Maloney as the famous ‘Hercule Poirot’. He was just brilliant. In addressing the audience, the cast, and controlling the mood of the play perfectly. His comedic timing was great and how can we forget that ending monologue because wow! Bob Barrett as ‘Monsieur Bouc’ also had his fair share of laughs along with Debbie Chazen as ‘Princess Dragomiroff’. You could tell that this whole cast had a real connection and I think these connections helped paint the picture that they may have been the killer at some points, but at others you thought they were completely innocent. I would also like to mention how nearly all of the characters had a different accent which were incredibly realistic. In fact they were so well executed that at moments of fast paced dialogue it was quite difficult to understand what was actually being said. A high compliment for any actor.

I loved the design and set for this play. You’re probably thinking, “how do you make a train effective on stage?”. Well Mike Britton (Designer) has the answer to that. They basically had what I can only describe as 3 or 4 hollowed out pieces of train that would act as different bedrooms or a dining room etc. These could be moved around, and the effect of a split scene with these was fantastic. I also liked how the stage had a revolver or lazy Susan. This gave a great amount of dynamic energy to scenes that were otherwise static. I also really enjoyed the use of lighting and shadows. The show opens with ‘Poirot’ spotlighted, and the group of train passengers backlit with shadows. So simple yet so effective. Surprisingly, I also really liked the use of projections in this play. The projection along with the speech added a nice bit of movement and extra emotion to the backstory of what was going on. If I had to add anything, I would only say that it may have been nice to see maybe a couple more blackouts whilst they were moving set pieces. I did like the use of blackouts to make a character disappear into the darkness however. This worked excellently!

When it comes to music there wasn’t really a lot of it. In the pre-show there was some creepy but really nice train and eery child talking sound effects. This was actually the perfect way to create some atmosphere throughout the auditorium before the show. The loud train horn sound effects and gunshots were also a nice added touch to raise the energy levels as well as pack a punch. The random pieces of music used when moving set did feel a little bit out of place as there was no blackout to accompany them, but this is a very minor niggle. I spoke earlier about pacing of the show, and Act 1 - which involved the set up, character development, and murder - did feel quite long and slow. There was a lot of information to pack in there, but by the interval it didn’t really feel like we had gotten anywhere. Act 2 was paced much better. To the point where just before the big reveal I was thinking surely this can’t be it - but it was. As for the big reveal - this is definitely the highlight of the show, and you can tell how well Agatha Christie’s writing translates to the stage in this moments.

Overall, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ is another classic whodunnit. You will constantly be wondering exactly that, as well as changing your mind throughout. I actually feel like its better going into a story like this with no prior knowledge but I can imagine seeing it again would be very interesting to try and spot any clues or character behaviours you didn’t see the first time around. If you’re a fan of a murder mystery, you can’t go wrong with this one. ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ is stopping at Mayflower Theatre until the 22nd February before continuing on the rest of its UK tour. It’s a dead ringer - I wish all of the cast and crew the best of luck as they depart towards their next destination.