A Christie Mystery
It’s been almost six months since I was last on stage, but rehearsals are now underway for a Spring opening of Towards Zero – an Agatha Christie ‘Whodunnit’.
I haven’t performed in ‘A Christie’ since Drama School and, even then, I remember being underwhelmed about appearing in one. Our Student cast queried the purpose of public appearances of a style of play that seemed so terribly old fashioned, and not as theatrically ‘hip’ as some of those we had appeared in up to that point. Considering that the previous one we had performed was a controversial ‘Marat/Sade’, anyone could understand why. It is quite eye-opening, then, to realize that these plays are being constantly performed globally in Community Theatre. They are incredibly successful, and always have been.
‘The Mousetrap’, the World’s longest running play is, of course, ‘A Christie’, and there are 29 more out there, many probably being performed tonight, somewhere in the World. In 2015, 10 more were discovered, so ‘The Queen of Crime’ will probably be staged for decades to come. Perhaps it is because they are so ubiquitous that they have this ‘second hand’ scent about them. Perhaps it is the perceived age of the audience – a ‘blue rinse’ type of theatre goer, dressed in Tweed and all too happy to let you know that your acting was so bad, they have all seen better before, or could figure out the Murderer’s identity half-way through Act 2, or perhaps it is that they are so dated, and full of cardboard cut-out characters that they don’t deserve to be taken seriously. Studying the script over the last few weeks have led me to some eye-opening discoveries that, at least for thus actor, has meant a different view of this mystery.
Firstly, there is the staging. Reasons for everyone to descend on one room in an old country house takes skill. Every entrance and exit must be made for a reason, not just made because the entire cast is trapped, just like the characters are. Then there are the buried emotions of the characters: Where the fear of social embarrassment by past or present blunders, affairs or bankruptcies meant that everyone buried these possible motives in a way that today’s world of Social Media sharing minimize to inane trivia. Finally, there is the language. It is either dense and over-explanatory, or simplistic, when characters are either trying to hide something or stalling while better lies come to their mind. When added to the mid-20th Century wardrobe requirements, the characters can be as tough to completely understand as Shakespeare’s. This, of course, is complicated by everyone’s predilection to lie at every given opportunity, as they try to stop an outsider in their midst (and usually one of a perceived lower class.) from uncovering not only who is a murderer, but everyone’s messy lives.
It came as a surprise to me how difficult it was to make my character come to life in a realistic way. Of course it calls for a large cast to really play their role’s backstory. Why is it so important that you keep hidden that you had an affair some years ago, and your Husband never found out? Or that you DID go in that room and see a dead body, but didn’t say anything, because it would open a window on your life that you don’t want to be found out? Why is everyone so scared? How are you hiding it, and who do you confide in – if everyone. Your character is literally living two lives, in constant fear of being found out.
Audiences that like Murder Mysteries are adept at finding the truth in a morass of red herrings, so your performance has to be believable for the plot to make sense and continue on. One paraphrased line of this alien language will suddenly sound too modern, and destroy the illusion. One missed paragraph could well hide a clue from the audience that they need – it is perhaps one of the most interactive forms of theatre. For those that haven’t acted in a Murder Mystery, or Whodunnit don’t appreciate the work, preparation and concentration requires to successfully stage these, and I look forward to getting under the skin of my character to make him ‘real’. I’m trying not to make too many decisions for a while so as to fit into the ‘whole’ correctly. I do, though, look forward to saying: “I say, what exactly are you driving at?’ in my best Downton accent!
