By Amanda Briggs
There’s nothing more pleasant than settling down to enjoy a nice English murder. For decades we have enjoyed the continuity of long-running TV series such as Morse, Midsomer Murders, and Father Brown, etc, etc, which indulge our apparent insatiable desire to resolve gruesome or seemingly inexplicable murders amidst rose-covered cottages, quaint old churches, manor houses and genteel old ladies riding bicycles through picturesque villages. These quintessentially English dramas undoubtably find their inspiration from Agatha Christie, the renowned queen of crime and intrigue, who has enthralled audiences with her novels, short stories and stage productions for over a century, and which have continued and indeed proliferated in their revival through big and small screen since her death in 1976.
From one of the numerous websites about Christie, it is stated that “outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap.” The Mousetrap has been playing on the West End since 1952 and is still going strong, as the world’s most famous whodunnit.
A Murder is Announced was first published in 1950 and was written when Christie was at her prime, and stars one of her most adored amateur sleuths, Miss Marple. It is a masterfully complex and intriguing plot, and one that transfers easily to the stage, as the story takes place in the drawing room of a country manor house. The story starts when an announcement in the local paper states that a murder will take place that Friday at Little Paddocks, at the home of Letitia Blacklock at 6.30 pm, in the delightfully named village of Chipping Cleghorn. Inevitably, a small group gathers at the aforementioned time. A sudden blackout occurrs and gunshots go off. Say no more. There’s a murder to solve.
If you can forget the recent roll of star-studded BBC and high-production film adaptations you will enjoying seeing this production of an Agatha Christie classic in the raw. This production plays on the original era and includes all the Agatha Christie ‘must haves’; middle class characters lounging around on comfy chairs in poised positions, with the actors speaking with clipped BBC accents, pronouncing “over here” as “ov-ar hey-ar”. Costumes, hair and set play their role in establishing the originality of the piece. Sarah Thomas, known from Last of The Summer Wine,plays a convincing Miss Marple, and Tom Butcher deserves a nod for his role as the droll, moustachioed Inspector Craddock. There are plenty of humourous asides throughout the performance to amuse the audience and complement the intriguing plot. There is definitely no snoozing through this one; it is a Christie delight, that will keep you piecing it together through the journey home.
Woking Writers Circle 