Agatha Christie Theatre Company's Go Back for Murder

The next production for the Agatha Christie Theatre Company is Go Back for Murder, which will be touring from January 2013:

Now in its eighth thrilling year, the Agatha Christie Theatre Company presents a production of the queen of crime’s classic Go Back For Murder.

Carla Le Marchant learns a disturbing family secret; her
mother, Caroline Crale, died in prison after being convicted of poisoning her father. Caroline leaves an intriguing legacy in the form of a letter professing her innocence and, believing this to be true, Carla is determined to clear her mother’s name. Suspects, secrets, and red herrings abound in this thrilling new production





I haven't got the full itinerary but early stops include Windsor, Malvern, Wolverhampton and Cardiff. Another non-comprehensive listing can be found here.

Apparently the play Go Back for Murder was adapted by Agatha Christie from her Poirot novel Five Little Pigs.

Agatha Christie's Verdict - on tour

Agatha Christie's play Verdict will be touring the UK next year. Verdict will be showing at the following venues/times, taken from kenwright.com:

11 - 22 Jan	Theatre Royal Windsor	01753 853 888	Book Online
24 -29 Jan	Theatre Royal Bath	01225 448844	Book Online
31 Jan- 5 Feb	Everyman Theatre Cheltenham	01242 572573	Book Online
7- 12 Feb	Theatre Royal Plymouth	01752 230440	Book Online
15 - 19 Feb	New Theatre Cardiff	029 2087 8889	Book Online
21 - 26 Feb	Grand Theatre Wolverhampton	01902 429212	Book Online
28 Feb - 5 Mar	Queen's Theatre Barnstaple	01272 324242	Book Online
7 - 12 Mar	Palace Theatre Southend	01702 351135	Book Online
14 - 19 Mar	Swan Theatre High Wycombe	01494 512 000	Book Online
21 - 26 Mar	Festival Theatre Malvern	01684 892277	Book Online
28 Mar - 2 Apr	Churchill Theatre Bromley	08448 717 620	Book Online
4 - 9 Apr	Derby Theatre Derby	01332 255800	Book Online
25 - 30 Apr	Richmond Theatre Richmond	0844 871 7651	Book Online
Please note casting is not confirmed for the following venues
16 - 21 May	Assembly Hall Tunbridge Wells	01892 530613	Book Online
23 - 28 May	Floral Pavilion New Brighton	0151 666 0000	Book Online
30 May - 4 Jun	Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford	01483 44 00 00	Book Online

Following the huge success of The Hollow, The Unexpected Guest, And Then There Were None, Spider’s Web, and most recently Witness For The Prosecution, the Agatha Christie Theatre Company, now in its sixth outstanding year, is proud to present Verdict, the most riveting and compelling drama by the undisputed ‘Queen of Crime.’

An all-star cast is led by Dawn Steele, best known for playing Lexie MacDonald in the hit BBC drama Monarch of the Glen and recently starring as Alice Collins in the popular ITV series Wild at Heart, which continues for its sixth season in 2011. She is joined by Robert Duncan (Gus Hedges in the multi award-winning comedy Drop the Dead Donkey) and Ali Bastian who shot to fame as Becca Dean in Hollyoaks and PC Sally Armstrong in The Bill, and reached the semi-finals in the hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing in 2009. The cast also includes Peter Byrne (Dixon of Dock Green), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom in the hugely successful Harry Potter film series), Elizabeth Power (Eastenders) and 60’s pop idol Mark Wynter.

Having been forced to flee persecution in his home country, the brilliant and idealistic Professor Karl Hendryk leads a content and morally upstanding life, but his world is turned upside-down when the prospect of life-saving treatment for his invalid wife persuades him to take on a new pupil against his better judgement; the spoilt, conniving minx Helen who will stop at nothing to get her way. With murderous intentions afoot, it only remains to be seen what verdict will be delivered, and if justice will prevail...

Trailer Thursday - Deathtrap

I mentioned the play Deathtrap a few weeks ago. There's now an extended trailer, see below.

The play opens on 7th September at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Inspector Morse takes to the Stage

I've just received my Malvern Theatre Autumn brochure and what do I find? That there is an Inspector Morse play - House of Ghosts with Morse played by the former Doctor Colin Baker.

Exactly 35 years after a certain grumpy super-sleuth with an eye for the ladies and a thirst for beer made his first appearance in Colin Dexter's novel Last Bus to Woodstock, he's back…

Inspector Morse takes to the stage in Autumn 2010 in an all-new murder mystery, House of Ghosts. By special arrangement with Colin Dexter and starring Colin Baker (Dr Who) as Morse, Alma Cullen – the writer behind four of the hugely successful ITV episodes and Director Robin Herford (Woman in Black) – bring the inscrutable detective to audiences across the UK in what promises to be one of the theatrical events of the year.

Since Oxford undergraduate days, Morse has regarded theatre director Laurence Baxter as the only truly evil man he has ever met. So what happens when, twenty-odd years later, Morse finds Baxter at the centre of a murder case that involves the on-stage death of a young actress?

A list of tour dates can be found on this Colin Baker website (scroll down to 7.05). The production runs from late August to early December and the venues include (but are not limited to) Richmond, Oxford, Cardiff, Coventry, Malvern, Wolverhampton.

The Play's the Thing - Deathtrap

Deathtrap by Ira Levin will be on at the Noel Coward Theatre in London later this year. Previews begin on 21st August 2010, with the opening night on 7th September 2010 and it will then run into the new year.

Simon Russell Beale and Jonathan Groff star in a new Matthew Warchus production of Ira Levin's comic murder thriller 'Deathtrap'.

Groff plays the part of Clifford, a gifted young writer who befriends Sidney Bruhl (Russell Beale), a best-selling novelist and playwright. He turns up at Bruhl's Connecticut home with a new stage thriller which turns out to be superior to anything Bruhl has done.

Deathtrap took Broadway and the West End by storm in the 1980s and became a hugely succesful motion picture with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve.

Watch the trailer here.

The Play's the Thing - Sherlock Holmes

The Secret of Sherlock Holmes is to run from 20th July, for eight weeks, at The Duchess theatre in London's 'glittering West End':

Peter Egan and Robert Daws will recreate the partnership of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson on stage when The Secret Of Sherlock Holmes comes to the Duchess theatre from 20 July (previews from 15 July).


Premiered in 1988, Jeremy Paul’s play centres on a seemingly deadly encounter between Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Holmes and his nemesis, arch criminal Professor Moriarty, at Reichenbach Falls. As secrets and betrayal are slowly revealed, Watson finds his loyalty and friendship tested to the very limit, Holmes is forced to turn his unswerving powers of deduction upon himself and the true relationship between Holmes and Moriarty is finally revealed.

Tickets can be booked via this website though there may be other ways(!).

The Death and Life of Sherlock Holmes (play)

Sherlock Holmes - The Last Act, a play written by David Stuart Davies and starring Roger Llewellyn, is showing for one night at Lichfield Garrick Theatre on Saturday. It's already sold out, returns only, but you can watch a clip of the play, courtesy of You Tube.

Roger Llewellyn is currently also appearing in The Death and Life of Sherlock Holmes, also written by David Stuart Davies, which is on tour:

The Death and Life of Sherlock Homes
A dramatic finale…a thrilling comeback!

The World’s Greatest Detective refuses to leave the stage! Arthur Conan Doyle tires of his famous sleuth and uses the arch villain Moriarty to dispose of him. But as raising the spirits of the dead becomes an obsession in the author’s own life, so his fictional creations return to thrill, intrigue and dazzle us.

A wryly humourous tale of murder, mystery and the occult.

After his international success in Sherlock Holmes – The Last Act Roger Llewellyn returns as the great detective in this enthralling new play.

Written by David Stuart Davies, with an original score by Simon Slater. Directed by Gareth Armstrong.

Website updates

Yesterday I spent a bit of time updating some of the reference pages on the website - the Discussions and Events pages - as well as the News page.

The main addition to the Events page is details of the continuing tour by The Agatha Christie Theatre Company of The Unexpected Guest, which will be followed in 2008 by their production of And Then There Were None. Click here for dates and venues.

A Sherlock Holmes play at Malvern Theatre

At Malvern Theatre, 5 - 8 September, The Hound of the Baskervilles performed by the resident amateur group - Malvern Theatre Players.

The well-known story begins with the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville. His young heir, Sir Henry, is brought from America to Baskerville Hall, which lies on the edge of Dartmoor. Legend has it that the Baskerville family is cursed because of the frightful behaviour of Sir Hugo in the 18th century, and that a gigantic ferocious hound stalks the moor seeking to destroy every last Baskerville. Sir Henry turns to Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr Watson for help, but Holmes suspects a fiendish plot and as he unravels the mysteries of the moor we are involved in a race against time to save Sir Henry from the fate of his ancestors.

Simon Williams wrote this fast-paced modern adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 2002 as a commission, to mark the centenary of Conan Doyle’s thrilling masterpiece.

See more and book online at the Malvern Theatre webpage.

David Suchet interview

You thought you'd seen the last of my posts on The Last Confession but no. Today's London Theatre Guide has a lengthy interview with David Suchet about The Last Confession and Poirot.

Thankfully, Suchet has never been confined to playing the same person, despite frequently returning to inhabit the little Belgian detective – a role he says, unequivocally, he loves. He puts this flexibility down to the fact that he was a theatre actor long before he got his big break in television, as Blott in Blott On The Landscape in 1985. Since then, he has happily been able to work in both. “That’s where both the business and the public have been so generous to me. They haven’t limited me,” he says.

It says everything about his skill as an actor, though, that people are able to forget Poirot when they see him in other things. As much as he loves the character, this is part of the reason that he would never bring Poirot to the stage. “I got a letter only two days ago from a member of the audience saying will I please, please, please, please, underlined, bring Poirot to the stage,” he says. “It’s not my intention, and I don’t want to bring him to the stage, because that would intrude on the wonderful variety that I have in the theatre and that would be bringing something that everybody knows. I would be doing it for very much the wrong reasons.”

Nevertheless, he is excited about going back to the role again on television – he has two new mysteries lined up to film after he finishes his run in The Last Confession. “To think that that’s the legacy I’ll leave behind actually fills me with a great deal of pride,” he says. “Because he’s a great character to play in a great literary setting and a wonderful writer and I believe it’s been good, clean, healthy television; it’s not reality TV, it’s not smutty. If I can leave the complete works behind me of that little character, that will be a first and it will please generations to come and that’s really what I’m here for.”

You can read the whole interview here and you can book tickets for the production at the Haymarket here.

The Last Confession is on its way to the West End

Indie London reports that:

FOLLOWING its run at this year’s Chichester Festival and a brief regional tour, the new thriller by Roger Crane, The Last Confession, will transfer to the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket for a limited 12-week season – from July 4, 2007 (previews from June 28).

You can read a review in This is London. I agree with most of it, though I disagree with the comment about the pedestrian nature of the internal enquiry scene. If you get chance, do go see the master (Suchet) in action...

The Last Confession

I've succumbed to temptation and a recommendation in the comments to my earlier post, I've booked tickets to see David Suchet in The Last Confession at Malvern Theatre on Wednesday.

If all goes well with the trains, I hope to get back to Birmingham to try the Organic Vegetarian restaurant which had a good review in the What's On a few weeks ago.

Radio 4 - Front Row

On yesterday's Front Row amongst other arts news, including a portion on the follow up to The Graduate, Colin Bateman talks about why he's just Bateman on the cover now.

and in today's Front Row (19.15-19.45):

"...Mark reports on Dali & Film, a major exhibition which focuses on the long relationship between the controversial surrealist and the cinema. Mark also discusses the events surrounding the sudden death of Pope John Paul I with Roger Crane, writer of a new play called The Last Confession, and David Suchet, who takes the role of Cardinal Benelli."

This play is currently touring, see my earlier post.

David Suchet in The Last Confession

David Suchet is taking time away from Poirot to play another sort of detective, this time on the stage. He will play Cardinal Benelli in 'The Last Confession' which is about the death of Pope John Paul I.

The Vatican 1978: a little-known Cardinal from Venice is elected to succeed Pope Paul VI. A compromise candidate, he takes the name Pope John Paul I, and quickly shows himself to be the liberal the reactionaries within the Catholic Church most feared.

Just thirty-three days later, he is dead. No official investigation is conducted, no autopsy is performed, and the Vatican’s press release about the cause of death is later found to be, in large part, false. And just the evening before his death, John Paul had warned three of his most influential but hostile Cardinals that they would be replaced.

His death marks the climax of fifteen troubled years of controversy and machination within the Church; schisms threaten its unity and the shadow of the Mafia hovers over its financial affairs. Only Cardinal Benelli has the power to challenge the dead Pope's enemies.

This incisive new thriller tracks the dramatic tensions, crises of faith and political manoeuvrings inside the Vatican surrounding the death of the man known as ‘the Smiling Pope’.

I can't find a complete tour listing but 'The Last Confession' will be on at the following: Chichester 27 April - 19 May, Malvern 11 - 16 June, Milton Keynes 18 - 23 June and Plymouth 29 May - 2 June.

Wikipedia has a page on conspiracy theories about Pope Jean Paul I.

The Unexpected Guest on tour in the UK

Agatha Christie's, The Unexpected Guest, starring Simon MacCorkindale, is currently touring the UK. The full list of dates and venues is here.

"Following widespread critical acclaim for their star-studded production of The Hollow, the second production from The Agatha Christie Theatre Company promises to be another “beautifully staged and executed murder-mystery... a killer production of classic Christie class” (The Argus).

Lost in the fog on a lonely road, a stranger seeks refuge in a nearby house, only to find that he has stumbled onto the scene of a murder! When the dead man’s wife confesses to killing her much despised husband, the stranger agrees to provide her with an alibi. But, who is he really protecting? And, in a house full of suspects, whose are the unidentified fingerprints found at the scene?

Credited as one of Agatha Christie’s most mischievous and chilling whodunnits, The Unexpected Guest is filled with all the suspense, intrigue and surprise twists that make Christie one of the world’s best-loved authors and the undisputed first lady of crime."

If you can't make the play, Charles Osbourne wrote it up as a novel in 1999 and it is available most recently as a 2003 paperback.