Murder and mayhem take off this weekend with Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’

Famed mystery writer Agatha Christie is not a big one for moral lessons, but perhaps there’s a practical piece of advice in her successful stage play, And Then There Were None, playing this coming weekend at Piedmont University:  “If you get an invitation to a fancy party from someone you don’t know—don’t go,” laughs the director and theatre professor John F. Spiegel.

As the title reflects, the characters disappear, one at a time, as the engaging psychological mystery unfolds over the course of a little over two hours at the University’s elegant Swanson Theatre.  The audience’s job: Figure out who’s next to perish, and, of course, whodunnit? If this writer’s experience at a dress rehearsal Sunday night is any indication, neither is an easy guess.

We get the “why,” early on, as a moral stain on each character is revealed in an early speech.  It seems each is to be punished for deeds that were not prosecutable at the time, but nevertheless morally ambiguous—to varying degrees.

The Disappearing Suspects

Set in a high-end home on an island off the southwest coast of England, the 11-character play starts with the guests arriving at the home, only to find their supposed hosts absent. Not far in, the actors begin to fade away—well, to be more specific, they are murdered, each in a different fashion. Some you’ll miss, others you’ll gladly bid “goodbye,” as they range from the heroic, to the stoic, to the infuriating.

As Spiegel puts it, there will be at least two moments “when the audience will celebrate, where they will say, ‘Whew, that guy’s gone!’”

One change Spiegel made to the way the show is performed, he notes, is that originally, many of the deaths were only imagined by the audience.  Here, thanks to some special effects and adept stagecraft, most happen right before your eyes—and quite credibly.

The Non-Mysterious Title Change

Long before Piedmont got to it, the show underwent another change—its title.  We will not reproduce the original here, but it contained the single most offensive word in the English language. It was wisely altered many decades ago.

For the actors, there are some new challenges as well. Liam Peeples, 19, who plays a soldier, Phillip Lombard, said And Then There Were None provided his first opportunity to wax romantic onstage, his intended being the secretary, Vera Claythorne, played by Nealy Webster. The developing fondness between the two drives parts of the story along.

Peeples said that as a person, he’s very big on using his hands.  His character, a military man, is far more economical of motion and speech.  “He was a soldier, and he’s suave,” Peeples said, implying that he, Liam is…not.

Betsy Hernandez, also 19, plays a late-middle-aged physician, Evelyn Armstrong, and said she was working hard on embodying the character’s more limited range of motion, aided by good wig-work and makeup. The doctor is the oldest character she’s ever played, Hernandez added.

“For me, a lot of it’s about age…It’s been difficult for me to adjust to that, because I’m used to playing characters somewhere near my age,” Hernandez said.

Georgian Accents Go British

Working behind the scenes is the theatre department’s Professor Bill Gabelhausen, who spent many years touring the country as a professional actor. For the Christie show, he stepped in to coach the actors—all native Georgians, save one Iowan—in British accents, some with an upper-class ring, others more working class. The transformations were reasonably on-target Sunday night.

Spiegel says the show is suitable for just about all ages—though the youngest children may think there’s too much talk and not enough murder.  There’s nothing gruesome about any of it, though, and even a sophisticated 10-year-old should enjoy it.

The full cast:  Leasia Finley; Steven Herring; Dakota Rose Chen; Willow Cannon; Betsy Hernandez; Robert Wright; Ethan Spinks; Nealy Webster; Sara Bjerke; Liam Peeples; and Christopher Belin.

The murder and mayhem commence Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, April 16-18, at 7:30 p.m., with a Sunday matinee on April 19^th at 2 p.m.

General admission seating is $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and students.  Admission is free for Piedmont University faculty, staff, and students.  Tickets may be purchased online at piedmont.edu/ticket or by calling the box office at (706) 778-8500, ext. 1355.