And Then There Were None – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

Writer: Agatha Christie

Director: Lucy Bailey

One could sympathise with the young woman who, on the way out, expressed her dismay at the absence of Miss Marple because this is not the cosy world of St. Mary Mead. Actually the opening is relatively cosy, though mysteries arise as to who invited these guests to Soldier Island: the set is splendidly art deco, the characters are pretty much English types, the army general, the hanging judge, the celebrated doctor, and so on. There are little jokes such as the “South African” Davies who insists on repeating his name to everyone. He is, of course, in disguise and by the end William Blore is anything but an object of mirth.

By steady steps we end up, at least in Lucy Bailey’s production, in the world of Gothic melodrama, the last few survivors murderous and almost feral as the sands of Soldier Island encroach on the charming man-made attempt to create a place of sanctuary, which becomes a place of isolation and murder. Gauzes swirl across the stage, music and sound effects ratchet up the horror and gunshots seem twice as loud as usual.

This is Christie’s own adaptation for the stage of her 1939 novel which ingeniously uses the lines of the nursery rhyme, here sanitised as “Ten Little Soldier Boys”, to work its way through the murders of the two hired domestics, here transformed from married couple to two women (Christie was hardly generous in her female casting), and eight guests summoned to Soldier Island by the mysterious Mr. Owen on spurious social grounds.

In truth some of the guests fall into the “stereotype” category such as a quite revolting young man (by 21st century standards) who drives his car at 100 mph and forces others off the road (Oliver Clayton) and a religious fanatic, one of only two female guests (played by understudy Louise McNulty) who calls down Heaven’s fury on the other one (Sophie Walter) for her backless evening dress.

It is the craziness that spreads through all the cast that is the power of the play – it’s a pity that the audience found amusing Jeffery Kissoon’s mental breakdown as he recalls his wife’s death after he had sent her lover, his ADC, to certain death at Paschendaele, but later breakdowns are extreme enough to hold the attention.

And Then There Were None is embarked on a long tour and it would be all too easy to spoil it for audiences by too many spoilers, so let us confine ourselves to praise for the final three characters, so different from their Act 1 personae – you know who you are!

It is common to regard today as the right age to revisit past horrors and Bailey and set designer Mike Britton seize on the opportunity with the sands in the final act, but the real similarity lies in the ability to dig out the worst in people, in 1939 and 1943 (the play’s first production) no less than 2023.

Runs until 11th November 2023, then tours until April 2024