And Then There Were None is the onstage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s island-based thriller of the same name.
Wildly successful thriller raises questions about guilt
With over 100 million copies sold to date And Then There Were None is one of Agatha Christie’s most triumphant works of fiction.
Critics around the world have called it one of the greatest mystery novels ever written.
And now Vertigo Theatre is bringing its adaptation of the historic book to life onstage.
Similar to the 1939 novel the play begins with 10 people arriving at a mansion on Soldier Island with their host nowhere to be found. A recorded voice playing on a gramophone implicates all of the arrivals in the deaths of others. Not one of them fully accepts responsibility for their role in the crimes.
Then one by one the guests fall prey to a killer. Only one of them could be the murderer and as their numbers drop their paranoia and suspicion take over. The question soon becomes who if anyone will be left alive at the end.
The play touches on themes related to guilt and accountability. Valerie Ann Pearson the director of the Vertigo production and Grant Reddick who is playing the role of General MacKenzie agree.
“There’s a fascinating ethical discussion in the play” says Reddick. “A very interesting discussion about what guilt and expiation is. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing how people see their guilt how they hide their guilt whether or not they accept their need for expiation.”
A stage full of guilty characters raises the challenge of manifesting the humanity of people capable of a brutal act.
“One of the first things that we talked about” says Pearson “was that unless we care about the characters as individuals then their deaths mean nothing to me and we can simply knock all 10 of them off and then call curtain. So we have to find a way of making each of the characters human and desirable to know; we have to care about them is some aspect.”
One character proved particularly difficult. Emily Brent is a pious woman who is quick to judge and condemn those around her. To give Brent a human quality Pearson cast Maureen Thompson.
“Maureen carries a natural warmth about her. She’s a fine actress but her natural warmth helps her to play Brent as not just a one-dimensional character who is completely judgmental” explains Pearson.
“She comes off as someone who in some way is attempting to instruct the others about the morality of life and help them not repeat mistakes she’s witnessed in the past. And I think that helps us care about her a bit.”
Each character is given a moment in the play to account for their actions. Pearson believes that understanding why each of them did what they did is necessary for the audience to connect with them. “It’s a partial confession about what happened in the past” she says. “It’s their justification for doing what they did. And I think that helps the audience to care more about them.”
Like the hero of the popular television show Dexter the murderer in this play kills to punish the victims for their crimes which raises another ethical question: Is it OK to kill if you only kill murderers?
Reddick doesn’t think so.
“The killer is despicable” he says. “Does one person have the right to determine what is justice for everyone else? No. That’s vigilantism and that’s something we have to fight against. We have to believe that the law is for the most part just.”
Pearson and Reddick are blown away by how Christie skilfully plotted the story. “She wanted a challenge for herself” says Reddick “and this novel challenged her. How do you get 10 people onto the island? How do you kill them off? It’s really quite brilliant how it’s all done.”
