Street Theatre’s portrayal of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None took place at Strode Theatre near Glastonbury from 15th to 17th March 2012.
Set in the 30’s, the action takes place in the drawing room of the only house on Soldier Island, off of the Devon coastline, where 8 guests and 2 housekeepers find themselves gathered together while their host remains absent.
Above the fireplace is a framed rhyme of "Ten Little Soldier Boys" and upon the mantlepiece below, sit ten soldier figurines. Exactly why these ten figurines are relevant, soon becomes clear.
From the start this play has everyone’s attention, and under the expert handling of Director Peter Wintle the cast of twelve very different characters, (eleven on stage and one unseen) has our attention.
The guests are each exposed as being guilty of murder; done so through a recording on a gramophone record by a person unknown. They slowly begin to realise that they have been lured to the island for seemingly sinister reasons and the plot most definitely thickens……
One by one, the characters meets their untimely death under suspicious circumstances, each one correlating to a verse from the Soldier Boy rhyme.
Unsurprisingly, paranoia increases, individuals become more suspicious of each other and the tension is ramped up as we, as well as the victims, try to fathom out who is the killer. Is it the mysterious host, one of the guests or someone else entirely? It’s a strong plot but without an equally strong cast it could have failed miserably. There were times when some of the dialogue and action seemed to be more comedic than I expected but I suspect this is more to do with the nature of the script, which after all had been written seventy odd years ago, than the direction or cast!
Luckily the acting is, as always with Street Theatre, absolutely outstanding. As an AmDram Company they have some fine actors. Admittedly Pete Fernandez as William Blore had a somewhat hammy South African accent as a millionaire at the top of the play, but later when exposed las being a West Country policeman, his accent required a more bumpkin burr which he carried off well. Iain Muton-Philips as the debonair Captain Lombard provided a strong lead role which carried the investigation and much of the action through to the end. Eliane Morgan provided the glamour as Vera Claythorne (as well as some love interest for Lombard) and managed to portray both strength of character and vulnerability throughout. Other notable roles included Olwyn Herridge as the austere Emily Brent and Piers Fielding as the mad, bad and dangerous to know, Sir Lawrence Wargrave. Relative newcomer Steve McCullagh did a good job of put-upon Mr Rogers and credit to Mike Linham for taking on the role of Fred Narracot, exchanging his usual Director’s hat for a fisherman’s cap!
The stylish set was well designed, bright and uncluttered, and its layout meant that none of the action was missed by obstruction wherever you were sitting. The costumes were perfectly authentic, with some superb garments on show, particularly for Miss Claythorne. From dinner suits to the fisherman’s outfit, the costumes seemed to be spot on.
Props were also very impressive, with the dressing of the set perfectly in keeping with the period and some very finely tuned and sleek props changes during black-outs. Also the mysterious removal of soldier figurines from the mantlepiece during the action was very well done, and I only spotted one disappear! The sound was excellent, with some highly atmospheric music and sound effects (particularly during the storm scene) to perfectly compliment the expert lighting provided by James Linham.
This show sold extremely well throughout the run and is yet another triumph for Street Theatre company which should make Director Peter Wintle and his team, very pleased indeed.
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