THE thing is with these Agatha Christie stories is that the killer is more often than not the one you’d least expect. Even so, it is possible to over correct and still not figure it out before master sleuth Hercule Poirot. I certainly did not see this one coming.
In The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd at Theatre On The Bay until 16 August, Alan Committie returns to the role of the now retired Belgian detective Poirot to solve the crime of the title. There are plenty of suspects — in fact, everyone could have done it — and all of them have secrets and lies which Poirot will systematically uncover. Although everyone in the audience entered into a pact not to give away the punchline, I will tell you this much: it wasn’t the butler. In fact, “the butler did it” is an ancient cliché and trope, and there’s much lively discourse about it online and where it originated. This is not a spoiler; it’s never the butler (or it shouldn’t be). In SS Van Dine’s Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories (1928), number 11 states “A servant must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. This is begging a noble question. It is a too easy solution. The culprit must be a decidedly worth-while person — one that wouldn’t ordinarily come under suspicion.”
Quite so. It’s not like we don’t have sufficient other candidates, and figuring out whodunit is the whole point, and the enjoyment as we follow Poirot’s musings and deductions and clever interrogations, eyes scanning the set for any visual clues. What did we miss that Poirot’s eagles eyes spotted? It’s like an interactive game with a big reveal at the end to make you go oh yes, ha ha, of course…but not really because none of us is smarter than Poirot.
Our suspects include Dr James Sheppard (Graham Hopkins; it’s always such a treat to see him on stage in the flesh); his sister Caroline (Diane Simpson), an inveterate gossip who knows everything that’s going on in the village of King’s Abbot; Mr Ackroyd’s secretary Helen Russel, played by Sharon Spiegal Wagner; person of interest Ralph Paton (Dean Goldblum); the butler Parker (Bret Krüger); parlour maid Ursula Bourne (Sarah Wolhuter) who is harbouring something shocking; Flora Ackroyd, Roger’s niece (Mary-Ann Wright), and her mother Gertrude (Louise Saint-Claire) who has a fondness for the booze and some lovely floaty shawls; and Major Hector Blunt played by Michael Richard with his delightfully booming voice, which we are to believe he, the Major, himself enjoys hearing.
Even though suicide is briefly floated it’s quickly dismissed so Roger Ackroyd (Mike Huff) is not implicated in his own death, and I suppose we can discount local policeman Inspector Raglan (Russel Savadier) because he’s portrayed as something of an idiot who would be unlikely to commit a crime that wouldn’t immediately be solved, and no match for Poirot’s scornful wit.
The hero of the piece is Hercule Poirot. Returning to the role was a delight, says Alan, who fell in love with the character as a young kid. “He’s very fastidious, super neat, he’s arrogant although he’s also warm-hearted. He can also be demanding, kind of angry and loud, officious…but of course he has these little grey cells which are working overtime.
“He’s a complex character in a genre — murder mystery — which works with stereotypes, and he’s anything but a stereotype, so that’s quite fun.”
On revisiting Poirot, Alan worked from the outside in: the fat suit, making his head bald, growing the moustache, the walk. “All of that stuff is a physical embodiment of Poirot and if you attack it from the physicality then you start to find out who this man is. How he walks, how he approaches the world. I try to move in the space, and take up all the space on stage. He doesn’t often stand still, and when he does he’s very still. When he moves, it’s with power and precision, because of his arrogance and because he feels he needs to take control of the space. He works from behind the eyes, he stares people down. He glares intently at them.”
it’s more than the obvious though — watch his hands. They reveal Alan’s mastery of his craft and how he inhabits the character.
“And of course the accent. It’s a Belgian-French accent. Robyn Scott helped me with that. The Belgian affectation on some French words is slightly different so we try to be accurate with that. With theatrical licence I’ve also given him one or two words which are exaggerated for comic relief, influenced by Peter Sellers’s Inspector Clouseau. In her books, Christie does say how some of Poirot’s pronunciations are over the top. But as with anyone larger than life, he has eccentricities and I think we get away with that.”
Examining the character, Alan feels he has both brains and brawn, is both brilliant and dangerous, and could hold his own in a fight, but you’ll have to go watch the play to see how.
“So yes, loved revisiting Poirot. Will I do it again? Who knows. There are new adaptations of the books coming out thick and fast so if the script is good enough maybe I’ll get to play him again some time in the future but for now loving being in The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd alongside all these theatre stalwarts as we reveal the twists and turns of this brilliant mystery.”
