and then there were none

‘And then there were none’ was written by Agatha Christie in 1945 and originally called ‘Ten Little Niggers’ until as late as 1978. It then changed to another politically incorrect name, ‘Ten Little Indians’, before the present title.  Directed by Janet Brandwood, the play is being performed by the Stirling Players at the Stirling Theatre, Morris Place, Innaloo until 3^rd October. All shows at 8.00 pm.

          The curtains open to the strains of Pachelbel’s Canon in D major, to show the interior of an old house, on an island off the Devonshire coast. The butler (Gary Billingham) and his wife (Marian Byrne) are preparing for the arrival Mr Owen’s eight guests. A gentleman that no-one has met, or even seen.
         The local fisherman (Gordon Johnson) arrives and helps them up the cliff to the house, where Captain Lombard (Jason Forbes) and his secretary Vera (Katherine Gauci) have already arrived. Neurotic neurologist, Dr Armstrong (David Gostlow), complains about the inconsiderate lout that almost ran him off the road on the way there. Young Anthony Marston (Anthony Karro) smiles and offers an insincere apology.
         Then a South African man called Davis (Greg Hopson) arrives. He seems to know more about the reason for this gathering on the island than the others. Could he be Mr Owen in disguise? His drinking and manner really upsets the Bible thumping, straight-laced Emily Brent (Ursula Johnson – superb acting). Then there is the senile General Mackenzie (Niall O’Toole) who spends most of his time looking for his dead wife – but is he as decrepit as he appears?
        When the butler plays a recoding of a message from Mr Owen, in which Owen accuses all present of murdering someone in the past. Even the retired judge (Bob Charteris) is blamed for the death of one of his accused, by wrongly sentencing him to death.
       Rapidly, within the next 48 hours, the ten members of the household are killed, and as they do the little wooden soldiers (made by Ron McVie) on the mantelpiece disappear. The sea outside is very rough, there are no links to the mainland, who can the murderer be?

When there is a large cast, it is very easy to have them standing around like stooks of corn, but in this play, the skilled director, Janet Brandwood, keeps the cast moving and the action ticking along at a perfect pace. The whole cast have captured the very varied characters beautifully. A minor point is that occasionally some lines were delivered towards the back of the stage and were a little lost.
In ‘Who Dunnits’ one can often pick the murderer by looking at the attitude of the cast towards a certain player, as though they know in advance who the murderer is. Here the actors worked as a strong team and gave nothing away. It must be a couple of decades since I last saw the play and so was as confused as everyone as to the killer.
Good teching, well acted and smoothly presented. Most enjoyable.