Death on the Nile – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

Writer: Agatha Christie

Adaptor: Ken Ludwig

Director: Lucy Bailey

Agatha Chrisite, the Queen of Crime, got the inspiration for her classic crime novel Death on the Nile, when in 1933 she travelled up the Nile with her husband and daughter. It has now been very successfully adapted for the stage by the award-winning Ken Ludwig.

Death on the Nile, is a story of love, passion, revenge, and murder. It is an intriguing ‘whodunnit’. Thankfully the world-famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Mark Hadfield) is there to solve the mystery.

At a prestigious event at an Egyptian gallery in London, the glamorous young heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Libby Alexandra-Cooper) makes a generous donation to the museum. Linnet’s close friend Jacqueline de Bellefort (Esme Hough) is there with her fiancé Simon Doyle (Nye Occomore) to procure a position for Simon on Linnet’s estate.  Also at the event are various characters who will join the steamer, SS Karnak, as it travels along the Nile to return a sarcophagus on loan from Egypt.

On board the steamer, relationships flourish, apart from the devasting fact that Simon has left the heartbroken, revengeful Jacqueline, and is on honeymoon with the rich Linnet. All the time Poirot quietly observes the passengers giving wise counsel to the rivals Jacqueline and Linnet. Despite this, murder ensues and Poirot’s detective skills are called into action to solve the crime. Everyone is a suspect and many of the passengers have possible motives for committing the murder.

Hadfield is a wonderful Poirot. His accent, demeanour and humour are so entertaining. His candour as a detective is well portrayed. Colonel Race (Bob Barrett), Poirot’s trusted friend, also brings humour and works as a foil to Poirot’s brilliant detective skills.

Death on the Nile is set in the 1930s. It was a very different era, and there are larger than life characters. There is a touch of melodrama and it is captured credibly in the haunted heiress Linnet – this being Alexandra-Cooper’s professional theatre debut.

The exuberant, embarrassing mother and aspiring actress (Glynis Barber) is excruciatingly entertaining as she seeks romance and career advancement with avuncular and fading actor Septimus Troy (Terence Wilton).

The director Lucy Bailey has created a most cohesive performance despite the numerous suspects. The set of the SS Karnack is cleverly designed with different cabins on an upper and lower deck. When the murder occurs, it gives the suspects plausible alibis as they can all claim to be in one cabin or another. It also allows Poirot on one deck to overhear conversations conducted on the other.

Does Poirot solve the crime? Is there more than one murder? This is a most entertaining, and intriguing plot. Like Agatha Christie’s famous Murder on the Orient Express, also adapted by Ken Ludwig, this performance will not disappoint. A most enjoyable performance.

Runs until 14th March 2026, before continuing on tour